INDIAN TEA.

“That the Teas of India have at length come to be fully appreciated in England may be taken, we presume, as an admitted fact; and it is of importance that planters should direct their attention to modifying their methods of manufacture so as to suit the public taste, and, if possible, turn out an article free from the objections still advanced against the Indian leaf as a daily beverage. There are, we know, those who argue that enough has been done, and that consumers will acquire a taste for the produce of our gardens in time; but we have daily evidence that in the most trivial matters there is no greater tyrant than the public. It behoves those then who cater for this tyrant to consult its taste and satisfy its demands, however exacting and capricious they may be. The remarks we are about to make are based on experiments and enquiries extending over some years in this country and in England, and we leave those engaged in the enterprise to estimate their value. All Teas grown in the plains of India are known to the trade in London under the general name of Assam, and are chiefly used for mixing, seldom reaching the consumer in a pure state. When they do, the objections raised are that the leaf is too pungent and rough for most palates; and purchasers are in the habit of mixing it with Chinese to tone down those astringent qualities. In other words, it wants the delicacy of flavour which is the chief characteristic of the Chinese leaf, meaning of course that vended by respectable houses, not the abominable trash that formed part of the cargoes of the Lalla Rookh and Sarpedon, containing, according to Dr Letheby’s Analysis, ‘40 to 45 per cent. of iron filings and 19 per cent. of silica.’ Nor is this lack of delicacy of flavour to be lightly regarded, for the efforts of our manufacturers have been directed unwittingly and indirectly to foster the peculiarity, as the test of Indian Tea has hitherto been its strength and pungency, to fit it for salting weak, thin, inferior sorts of Chinese. This is what the dealers have demanded, and what, consequently, brokers in their turn have insisted on, with the result that the out-turn of our Assam and Cachar plantations is now, if anything, too powerful to suit public taste. Whether means of manipulation may be hit upon by which aroma can be retained without sacrificing strength, we leave those most interested to determine; but it is worthy of note that this objection to strength and roughness is almost confined to women, the sterner sex preferring Assam unmixed, while the working classes of both sexes are unanimous in favour of the unadulterated Indian article. Experiments were further tried by substituting Neilgherry Tea, and after a short interval the verdict of the majority was in its favour. We need now only point out the difference in the manufacture between the two Teas, leaving others to decide questions regarding the bearing of climate or altitude. Up to the time of finishing rolling, the manipulation of the leaf is identical, care being taken to retain the juice; but that made on the hills instead of being almost immediately placed over choolas was spread out thinly on tables all night, in a temperature of 54 deg., sustaining consequent loss of strength by evaporation, but developing an aroma that established it at once in favour. So successful has this Neilgherry Tea been at home, that offers are now received by plantation proprietors for their produce at half-a-crown per lb. free on board, in Madras. This would seem to indicate that the aroma is generated by the action of cold upon the damp leaf while in a state of ‘suspended fermentation;’ for, previous to experimenting with consumers, the samples were submitted to Mincing Lane brokers and pronounced sound, in corroboration of which opinion the bulk from which they were taken sold at auction for 2s. 2½d., so that fermentation (i.e. sourness) had been carefully avoided. We know that the climate of Assam and temperature of the Tea-houses render the keeping of rolled leaf even for an hour fatal to soundness; but should the development of this aroma be really due to ‘suspension of fermentation’ is it not worth while adopting some contrivance for cooling down a chamber set aside for the purpose of spreading out the rolled leaf to the temperature required?

“The question whether delicacy is due to altitude alone and not to manufacture might be ascertained by experiment. Let a quantity of green leaf be sent down from one of the Neilgherry gardens, and worked up in the plains at the foot of the hills, and an equal quantity sent up from one of the Assam gardens, say to Shillong, and manufactured on the Neilgherry principles there, and the result then compared. This experiment would cost little and determine a not unimportant question: for all engaged in Tea are interested in using their best endeavours to fit it for public consumption, and to guard it against Chinese in any shape or form whatever.”

Note by the Author.—That “delicacy of flavour,” and “want of strength” with it, is due to altitude has long ago been admitted, and any experiments on that head would, I think, be quite unnecessary. The experiments as to manufacture on the Neilgherries are interesting, and should be further looked into.

E. M.

I have at last completed experiments with a view to do away with the use of charcoal in Tea manufacture, and I think with success.

The “Furnace Teas,” for so I purpose naming them, have in most cases been pronounced by the Calcutta brokers to be superior to similar samples of the same day’s leaf, made in the usual way over charcoal.

Nothing but the heat generated by any fuel placed in furnaces sunk under ground outside the Tea-house is used. No motive power of any kind is employed. The apparatus is very simple. It is cheap to erect and very durable in character.

As the apparatus with which the Teas up to the present time have been made is a rude and imperfect one, having disadvantages which must tell more or less on the excellence of the Teas so manufactured, and as, even with these disadvantages, the Teas are pronounced by the brokers at least equal to charcoal-dried Teas, it is not too much to hope that with a perfect apparatus (one of which will be erected immediately) Teas will be improved in value by this new invention. The following will be shortly the advantages of this new process, even supposing the Teas are no better:—

1. Economy.—This will possibly be even greater than what is set out in the extract of the local paper below; for the fact that the Tea is never placed over charcoal until the whole is ignited, and has become “live charcoal,” is not there recognized, much of the caloric thus escapes.

2. Cleanliness and absence of charcoal dust.

3. Absence of the objectionable fumes of charcoal.

4. Immunity from fire in Tea-houses.

5. Greater speed in the firing process, and the saving of all the labour employed to make charcoal.

6. Reduced temperature in Tea-houses.

If all the advantages are, as I expect they will be, attained, the life of a Tea planter will be more pleasant than hitherto.

The following is the opinion of the new process expressed by the Darjeeling News of 1st August:—

“It has long been a question, which all planters were desirous to solve, if the fumes of charcoal were necessary to make Tea, that is to say, if any chemical action was produced on the Tea by the said fumes, and if not, whether it would not be possible to do the firing in some other and far cheaper way.

“The question has, we believe, been solved by Colonel Edward Money, and if so, for the invention is quite a new one, a boon of great magnitude will have been conferred on the Tea interest of India. We congratulate this district as being the birthplace of the improvement.

“The apparatus at present in use at Soom, and which we have seen working, is a rough and crude one made on the spot. This, and the more perfect plans from which larger and better ones are to be made, are readily shown by Colonel Money to anyone visiting Soom; but until the invention is patented, it is not well to describe it in print. Suffice if we say the invention is a remarkably simple one—cheap to erect—durable in its character, and the working thereof unattended with any expense whatever, beyond the cost of the fuel (which may be of any kind), and which of course will be many times less than charcoal.

“If true, as we hear, that it takes 3½ maunds of wood generally to make one maund of charcoal, and if also true, as Colonel Money suggests, that the caloric in one maund of wood equals the caloric in two maunds of charcoal, it then follows that each maund of wood, put into Colonel Money’s furnace, equals seven maunds of wood to make charcoal.

“Of course the above are more or less random figures, but they suffice to show that the saving of fuel will be very great—a boon of course to planters, but a boon also to the Forest Department and to India.

“We knew of the invention some time back, but we forbore to notice it until the brokers’ reports on the Tea so made had been received. We have now seen these. Samples of ‘charcoal’ and ‘furnace’ Tea were sent down, made from the same leaf, the same day, and manufactured in one up to the “firing” process. Two brokers give the higher value to the furnace Tea, one to the charcoal kind—but the difference is small.

“We believe, as one of our most experienced planters, who has tasted the Teas, been to Soom, and seen the brokers’ reports, says, that ‘the Tea dried by the furnace apparatus will be at least equal to that prepared over charcoal.’

“As Colonel Money is already known as an authority in Tea, and as he has stated to us his belief that ‘charcoal days’ for Tea are now at an end, we await with confidence the ultimate success of his invention, which even if it makes no better Tea will certainly make it far cheaper, while the dirt from charcoal dust will be done away with, the temperature of the Tea-houses much reduced, and the deleterious fumes of charcoal, so very objectionable from a sanitary point of view in Tea manufacture, will be known no more.”

Again, 29th August, a month later, the Darjeeling News further remarks:—

“We alluded recently to Colonel Money’s very ingenious plan for drying Tea without charcoal. Since then his apparatus has been in full work at Soom, and has been inspected by numbers of the Darjeeling planters, one and all of whom have, we understand, reported most favourably on its working. Samples of Tea manufacture have been from time to time sent to Calcutta brokers for their opinion, and reports have been received from fifteen, of whom seven are in favour of Tea made by the old charcoal process, seven are in favour of the new furnace process, and one reports that the Tea made by each process is exactly the same.

“Colonel Money is now taking steps to erect his improved furnace, which will be in working order by the end of September, and the whole October crop of Soom Tea will be fired by the new furnace.

“Colonel Money has applied for a patent, and as soon as this is granted we hope to give our readers a description of the apparatus. For obvious reasons it would not be advisable to do so before then. We may mention here that one of the most intelligent and practical planters in this district has ordered one of Colonel Money’s flues for his private garden.

“Of the commercial success of Colonel Money’s apparatus we have no doubt whatever, and we trust that Colonel Money will reap a handsome profit from his very ingenious invention, which will be an undoubted boon not only to this district, but to all the Tea-producing districts of India.

“One point which has struck us as good in Colonel Money’s apparatus is that the temperature of the Tea-house is considerably lowered during the firing process as compared with the open chulas, and that there is no free carbonic acid gas allowed to escape into the Tea-house, so that those very unpleasant symptoms of slow poisoning which often show themselves in planters and Tea-makers will be unknown in future. At our suggestion Colonel Money has decided to keep a register of the maximum temperature of the Tea-house, whilst the open chulas continue in use, and to compare it with the temperature when the new apparatus has superseded them, also to test for free carbonic acid gas in the air with each process.

“We are convinced that when the figures are available our readers will be rather astonished at the difference from a sanitary point of view.

“On the whole, we think that Colonel Money’s invention is by far the most important application of common sense and scientific knowledge to Tea manufacture that we have yet seen, and we are almost certain that his apparatus will before long be adopted throughout the Indian Tea districts.”[108]