| 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | |
| per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | |
| Total ash | 8·62 | 8·90 | 7·95 | 12·58 |
| Ash insoluble in water | 7·98 | 6·04 | 4·95 | 8·74 |
| Ash soluble in water | 0·64 | 1·86 | 3·00 | 3·84 |
| Ash insoluble in acid | 3·92 | 3·18 | 1·88 | 6·60 |
| Extract | 7·73 | 14·00 | 12·76 | 22·10 |
| Gum | 10·67 | 7·30 | 11·00 | 11·40 |
| Insoluble leaf | 70·60 | 70·55 | 67·00 | 60·10 |
| Tannin | 3·13 | 8·01 | 14·50 | 15·64 |
| Theine | 0·58 | nil | 0·16 | 0·12 |
1. Partially exhausted and refired tea-leaves, known as “Ching Suey” (clear water), which name doubtless has reference to the weakness of a beverage prepared from this article.
2. “Lie tea,” made from Wampan leaves.
3. A mixture of 10 per cent. green tea and 90 per cent. “lie tea.” It is sometimes sold as “Imperial” or “Gunpowder” tea, and is stated to be extensively consumed in France and Spain.
4. “Scented caper tea,” consisting of tea-dust made up into little shot-like pellets by means of “Congou paste” (i. e. boiled rice), and said to be chiefly used in the English coal-mining districts.
The following are the results of the analysis by American chemists of samples representing 2414 packages of Indian tea.
| Per cent. | Average per cent. | |||
| Moisture | 5·830 | to | 6·325 | 5·938 |
| Extract | 37·800 | „ | 40·350 | 38·841 |
| Total ash | 5·050 | „ | 6·024 | 5·613 |
| Ash soluble in water | 3·122 | „ | 4·280 | 3·516 |
| Ash insoluble in water | 1·890 | „ | 2·255 | 2·092 |
| Ash insoluble in acid | 0·120 | „ | 0·296 | 0·177 |
| Insoluble leaf | 47·120 | „ | 55·870 | 51·910 |
| Tannin | 13·040 | „ | 18·868 | 15·323 |
| Theine | 1·880 | „ | 3·24 | 2·736 |
COFFEE.
Coffee is the seed of the Caffea Arabica, indigenous to Abyssinia and southern Arabia, and since naturalised in the West Indies, Ceylon, Brazil, and other tropical countries. Its importance as an almost universal beverage is only equalled by that of tea. The ancient history of coffee is shrouded in great obscurity. It was unknown to the Romans and Greeks, but its use is said to have been prevalent in Abyssinia from the remotest time, and in Arabia it formed an article of general consumption during the fifteenth century. From its introduction, in 1575, into Constantinople by the Turks, it gradually made its way into all civilised countries. In 1690 it was carried by the Dutch from Mocha to Java, whence specimens of the tree were taken to Holland and France. Coffee houses were opened in London about the middle of the seventeenth century, and in 1809 the first cargo of coffee was shipped to the United States. As with many other articles of diet, the adulteration of coffee has kept well apace with its increased consumption. The bean is deprived of its external fleshy coatings before exportation, and is met with in commerce in a raw, roasted, or ground condition. Bell[9] gives the following analyses of two samples of coffee, both in the raw and roasted state:—