Tea, its history and mystery

by Joseph M. Walsh

There are many serious objections to the general use of India teas, one of which is the great excess of tannin (tannic acid) which they contain, ranging from 13 to 18 per cent. in this variety, and to which property tea owes its astringency, constipating effect on the bowels and the ink-black color which it imparts to water containing salts of iron. In England a crusade is being preached against their use by medical authorities on this account, the marked increase in dyspeptic and nervous diseases in that country being attributed to their general consumption there. Some experts argue that by a shorter infusion—sufficiently long to extract the theine with less of the tannin—this serious defect may be eventually remedied. Such, however, is not the case, as experiments made with it at three and five minute infusions have still shown an excess of tannin, in addition to that of making the liquor raw, herby, and entirely unsatisfactory in flavor. The same time-tests resulting in favor of both China and Japan teas, and which, judging by the bitterness and astringency, the amount of tannin yielded by India teas in a five-minute draw is incredible. While China teas, under the same conditions, possesses little or no trace of tannic acid, or offending the most sensitive palate or constitution, but on the contrary being both pleasing and refreshing to the most sensitive natures. Another distinct and dubious feature of India teas is the formation of a gummy or oily film which settles on top of the infusion when drawn, and claimed to be very injurious to the nervous system and digestive organs. When first infused this substance is scarcely discernible, but just as soon as the liquor begins to cool this opaque coating forms and develops on top. It is of an oily, creamy or gummy nature, forming a thin layer of a dull, whitish-brown color, more dense than the liquor and changing to a darker shade as it cools. Its nature or effect has not yet been definitely determined, but sufficient is known to prove that it is particularly unwholesome, for their selection is also more difficult than that of any other variety owing to their well-known tendency to early decay, becoming sour and rancid on short exposure to the oxydizing influences of the atmosphere, the greatest caution having to be exercised in avoiding those that will not keep for any length of time owing to this most objectionable peculiarity, losing flavor quicker and decaying faster than any other kinds, not even excepting low-grade Japans. This loss of flavor and rapid decay is greater in some sorts than in others, the grades most easily affected in this manner being the highly-fired, light-flavored and open-leaf makes.

The demand for India teas in this country is only limited, owing to the present taste of consumers, and there appears little hope of any increase in the future. What little is sold being used chiefly for blending with the softer and more mellow-flavored teas of China; the India grades supplying the absent quality of strength to the latter. Strenuous efforts have and are being made to introduce them, but so far with indifferent success. The character of the liquor after the infusion is so entirely foreign in body, color, flavor and aroma from that of the China and Japan sorts to which the people have been accustomed, and which appears to be an inherited taste, so deeply is it set, that little or no progress can be made in these attempts. The great strength, pungency and pronounced flavor of the choicer grades rendering them valuable only for blending purposes. Still it is difficult to overestimate the importance of India as a source of tea supply. Twenty years ago it furnished only about 10,000,000 pounds to the world’s supply, but so rapidly has its production increased that the crop for 1892 is estimated at 110,000,000 pounds. Its consumption in England is annually increasing, the total deliverance for that year being 103,000,000 pounds as against 99,000,000 pounds for 1890, while for 1889 the increase was upwards of 12,000,000 pounds over that of 1888. These enormous strides in the consumption of India teas in England is only equalled by that of Ceylon teas, the British public demanding strong, dark liquoring teas irrespective of flavor, aroma or effect.

CEYLON TEAS.

The tea-plant, though claimed to have been first introduced into Ceylon by the English, who, on principle, “claim everything,” was originally carried by the Dutch from China to that island as early as 1800, notwithstanding that Percival maintains that it was first discovered there in a wild state. But while it is admitted that a species known as Matara was found in some parts of the island, later investigation proved that it had no relation whatever to that of the regular teas of commerce. Tennant, in 1842, was the first Englishman to speak of Ceylon as a possible tea-growing country, but the highly profitable cultivation of coffee at that time attracted so much public attention that the article which has since proved to be the real wealth of the island was heedlessly overlooked, so that it is not too much to say that the present high position of Ceylon as a tea-producing country has been to a great extent entirely due to accident, it being only after the outbreak of the coffee-pest in 1870 that tea was first looked upon as a possible source of profit. When utter ruin seemed the only fate of the planters, it was suggested that they turn their attention to the cultivation of tea. A commission was duly appointed to visit the tea districts of India, and report upon the desirability of introducing the tea-plant into Ceylon. Very tardily, indeed, at first did the planters come to regard the experiment in the light of a paying speculation, for old habits and prejudices were strong, inducing them to cling with persistency to the hope that the coffee-plague would ultimately disappear, and it was only as a last resource that they decided to turn their attention to tea-culture on that island. The first plantation was started with plants received from China; the result, however, proved a financial failure, the first tea produced therefrom costing $25 per pound. Other spasmodic efforts were made later, until it was finally admitted that tea-culture could be made a success on the island, when a rush was made for estates for tea-growing purposes. The progress made was small at the beginning, many of those who planted tea doing so under the conviction that the industry would not pay, abandoning the scheme almost at the outset.

Ceylon eventually began its career as a tea-growing country under the most favorable circumstances; all the mythical hallucinations about tea cultivation having been removed, the disastrous experience of India saving Ceylon from falling into any serious error at the outset. Several India planters settled on the island, bringing with them a knowledge of its proper cultivation and preparation, so that when these facts are taken into consideration, the success which has attended its cultivation in Ceylon is not so much to be wondered at. The island also possessed other advantages over India in that it suffers less from drought, the rains are more regular and equable, there being scarcely a month in the year without at least some rain, and apart from the adaptability of its soil and climate, it has cheaper labor and superior facilities for forwarding the tea to the shipping ports, all important factors in its cultivation for profit. The tea-producing districts of the island are very compact, having Kandy as its chief centre and extending well into the southwestern provinces touching the coast toward the west. The southwestern section of the island is considered a perfect tea-growing district, soil is good, the climate hot and moist, and the plant can be cultivated at almost any elevation, several plantations there being situated as high as 6,000 feet above sea-level. But although the crops are fairly healthy at this altitude, it is admitted that the plantations lower down are best adapted for the production of the finer grades. The first successful garden was established in 1870 in the now celebrated Loocandura estate, with plants brought from Calcutta, and coolies skilled in its cultivation and manipulation. Tea of particularly good quality was produced from the beginning, samples of which were sent to London and highly spoken of by dealers there. Since that time tea cultivation in Ceylon has made steady progress if not rapid strides.

The plant chiefly grown in Ceylon is a hybrid—the Manipur or indigenous tea of Manipari (India)—is also extensively planted there, being equally hardy and suitable to the soil of the island, which is of a light, sandy nature, thickly intermixed with iron-sandstone, this mineral being peculiarly attractive to the tea-plant. The methods of cultivation and preparation are similar in every respect to those in vogue in India. The land is carefully drained and weeded, the trees are not allowed to grow too high, being reduced to a bushy form and picked when they are from two to three years old, according to site and elevation, and the tea prepared from the tender shoots only, caution being exercised not to injure the plants or future flushes checked.

Picking the leaf is carried on all the year round in Ceylon, except during pruning time, when the plants do not “flush” for two months, with which exception they flush every week, from each shoot of which the two top-leaves with the young shoot and half the third or coarser leaf are only plucked at a time. At 4 o’clock each evening the day’s “picking” is carried to the factory and the leaves laid out on the “withering” mats, which are stretched one above the other from poles or racks until the next morning, when the leaf is sufficiently evaporated, being rendered soft, pliable, and easy to roll by that time. The next process, that of “Rolling,” is one to which special attention is paid, as it is mainly to this system that the quality of the tea depends. The previously withered leaves are put into the roller, which is operated by hand or steam power, 100 pounds at a time placed in an upper box of the machine and pressed down with weights on the table or lower portion of the machine. The box containing the pressed tea travels with a circular motion round the table, by which the leaves are pressed, twisted and rolled as they come in contact with the small battens fitted into the centre of the table. After an hour the pressure is increased until at the finish it is from four to five hundred pounds on the leaves, the juice thus expressed being carefully collected and poured back into the roller every now and again until it is all absorbed by the crushed and twisted mass of leaves. When the rolling process is finished, the leaves are then placed on trays holding from 20 to 25 pounds, covered with a wet cloth and allowed to ferment from two to four hours according to the weather, or until they become a bright-copper color, when they are again rolled from a half to an hour according to fancy, after which they are ready for firing.

The “Sirocco machine” for firing tea-leaves by hot air has also superseded the pan or “Charcoal process” in Ceylon. The leaves having been laid out on wire-gauze trays, they are passed through this “hot-air” machine, in which they become thoroughly fired Tea in from twenty to twenty-five minutes, after which it is placed in sieves, which are worked either in a lateral or revolving direction by the aid of steam or manual power, and the different grades are sifted out, the larger and coarser leaves which do not pass through the sieves falling into a “cutter,” where they are cut to a uniform size. On estates where they bulk the Tea, in Ceylon, the result of the day’s work is placed in enormous air-tight lead-lined chests, where it remains until a sufficient quantity to form a “Break” or “Chop” is accumulated, which is generally once per week. The chest is then opened from the bottom and the tea bulked, after which it is lightly fired again and packed into the teak-wood chests for shipment. Light iron chests, coated inside and out with lead, and a lid to screw on, are now being extensively used by many estates for the better shipment of teas in both India and Ceylon.

Ceylon teas derive their trade names from the estates or plantations on which they are grown, being classed commercially as “Loocanduris,” “Matagalas,” “Ruan-wallas,” “Kanda-loyas,” “Semba-watties,” “Windsor Forests,” “Narangallas,” “Rakuwana,” “Madulsuma” and “Kandapole,” the finest being produced in the districts of Dunbula and Dolosbagie. Like India teas, they are principally converted into Pekoes, Souchongs, Pekoe-Souchongs, Congous, Broken-leaf, and Fannings. Their strength and flavor, like those of their India prototypes, varying greatly in quality in accordance with the elevation at which they are grown, their uniformity also varying from year to year as in the India districts. Some of the better grades resemble Cachars and Darjeelings, being full and strong in liquor, but frequently “toasty” or burnt in flavor, while the lower grades are decidedly inferior to the corresponding China grades in flavor and fragrance. A feature about the later shipments most to be regretted is that the planters appear to be making the same mistake that the Chinese and Japanese have made, that of sacrificing quality to quantity in their eagerness to get rich too fast.

Ceylon-Pekoes—Are of three kinds, “Plain,” “Silver,” and “Golden-tip” Pekoes. The former is a small, plain black-leaf tea, lightly “tipped” and finely made. The liquor is bright and fairly heavy in body and fragrant so far as this term applies to this variety, but is not adapted to the American taste.