Caravan Tea—Is simply a fine Lapsing or Padrae Souchong, put up in Hankow for the Russian market, and transported overland by caravan through Bokhara and Central Asia to Moscow and Petersburg.
Russian Tea—Grown in the district of Transcaucasia, consists largely of the leaves of a shrub possessing the botanical name of Vacinium staphylos, which when infused yields a decoction having some resemblance to the ordinary teas of commerce, but is acrid and nauseating in flavor. They are generally prepared for the express purpose of mixing with inferior China tea, and also with exhausted leaves, that is, tea once used, dried and rolled again.
American Tea—Samples of tea grown in South Carolina have lately been received in the New York market and tested there by experts, who pronounce them only fair in quality, and ranking them with the India, Ceylon and teas of that character.
Hop Tea—Is a species of tea now being prepared from common hops in the Kent district in England, prepared and cured by the “Sirocco” process, after the manner of India tea, and used chiefly to blend with the ordinary teas of commerce, the combination resembling a mixture of Virginia smoking tobacco and a rough-leaved Assam tea. It is claimed to be healthy and wholesome, from the fact that the lapulin of the hops counteracts or neutralizes the excess of tannin contained in the India teas, but nearly doubles it in price.
PARAGUAYAN TEA.
Yerba Maté, or “Paraguayan tea,” which although not entering into general use or commerce, is yet deserving of notice in this work from its extensive consumption among the inhabitants of South America. It is prepared from the leaves and stems of the Ilex, a species of holly found growing in a wild state in that country. In size and appearance it closely resembles an orange tree, having a whitish bark and leafy, tufted boughs, with leaves four inches long when full grown, dark-green in color, thick, glossy and crenate at the edges, pale on the lower surface and containing the same active principle, Theine, so characteristic of China tea. The flowers or blossoms are small and white, hanging in clusters at the angles of the leaves, the fruit or berries being red, smooth and similar to those of the common holly. So closely does it approach the tea of China in effect, that many authorities claim it to be a species of that plant, yielding a liquor similar in many respects. But while not containing as much volatile oil as the latter, owing to the primitive manner in which it is prepared, it nevertheless yields a most agreeable and refreshing beverage, enjoyed by many and forming the staple drink of millions of the inhabitants of Paraguay and other South American countries.
Expeditions to collect and prepare it start annually from the capital to the Yerbales or groves in the interior, taking extra mules and bullocks to bring the dried leaves back. On reaching the forests Tatacuas or camps are formed by clearing the ground and beating it down with heavy mallets until it is sufficiently hard and level for the purpose. The leaf in the natural state is from four to five inches long, thick, leathery, glossy and serrated at the edges, and is prepared for use in a network made from raw-hide straps stretched on posts, underneath which wood fires are kindled. The leaves and stems, as they are collected, are placed on these nets and scorched, care being taken only that they do not ignite or burn too much—in which state they closely resemble senna. When sufficiently scorched they are ground, in some instances, into a coarse powder in a rude wooden mill, weighed and packed for export in large bullock hides, holding from 200 to 250 pounds each and left to dry and tighten in the sun for a few days, becoming meanwhile as hard and impervious as stone. This method of curing is very defective, as the stems and other extraneous matter imparts a “woody” flavor to the infusion which is otherwise very agreeable and refreshing. It is prepared for use in a kind of filter or perforated bowl called Maté, from which it derives its trade name. The infusion is yellowish in color, almost syrupy in body, possessing an “herby” or weedy flavor, bitterish in taste, much disliked at first by those unaccustomed to its use, but nevertheless pleasant, wholesome and refreshing, pleasanter still when cold, and while approaching in its chemical composition to the regular teas of commerce it does not cause the wakefulness or nervousness attributed to the latter.
In the smaller towns and rural districts of South America it is regarded as a regular form of diet, and not, like ordinary tea, a mere accompaniment to the meal, being looked upon as a necessary, as well as a luxury, by the inhabitants, and is the first thing offered a visitor when entering a house, the table being rarely without it. The gaucho of the plains will travel for weeks asking no better fare than a little dried beef, washed down with copious drafts of Maté, the Indian carriers subsisting for days together on it alone, in short, being to them what the tea of China is to its inhabitants, essential and indispensable. The Government has a monopoly of its sale, a heavy duty being imposed on its exportation, forming the principal source of its revenue. The popular method of preparing it in Paraguay is to mix large proportions of raw sugar with a decoction made from the powder or leaves until a thick syrup is produced, when it is ready for drinking, the nourishing properties attributed to the infusion by the natives, it is contended, being due, in a great measure, to the excess of saccharine matter. It ranges in price from four to eight cents per pound in the prepared state, one pound yielding as much as twenty quarts of the infusion of moderate strength. It is difficult to get at any reliable returns for the entire traffic in this commodity, the production being carried on in such a crude and desultory manner, extending, as it does, over a vast area of wild country, the official returns furnishing only an approximate estimate of its trade and consumption. The total production may, however, be computed at 1,500,000 arobas, equivalent to about 40,000,000 pounds per annum, the total consumption averaging thirteen pounds per capita to the population, as against two pounds of coffee and one-fourth pound of China tea. Its use is confined chiefly to Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentine, Peru, Chili and Brazil. Its consumption in Paraguay and Argentine alone is over 35,000,000 pounds per annum, as against 5,000,000 pounds of coffee. Surprising as this large quantity may appear at first sight, it is explained by the fact that Maté constitutes the only vegetable nourishment of many classes in these communities, forming, as it does, the chief dietic beverage of over 20,000,000 of people in South America alone. Yet it is singular, to say the least, that its consumption should be so great in such large coffee-producing countries, and which export annually over half the world’s supply of that commodity. Strong efforts are being made at the present time to open up a trade in it in Europe, particularly in France, where the cafés now advertise it among their regular beverages, and shops devoted to its exclusive sale also recommend it. But whether these efforts will succeed remains to be proven, considering the enormous increase in the production of so many other teas and their established consumption.
TRADE GRADINGS OF TEA.
A Standard Invoice of Green tea contains a number of “Lines,” made up as follows: Gunpowder, No. 1 and 2 and 3; Imperial, No. 1, 2 and 3; Young Hyson, No. 1, 2 and 3. There being rarely more than two lines of Hyson, and never more than one of Twankay.