. Preparing the Ground for Seed. 
 
 Sowing the Seed. 
 
 3. Watering the Tea Plant. 
 
 W. BEAL, DRAPER, 
 
 THRAPSTONE. 
 
 Hontron Genuine Company 
 
 (Established 5*'‘ November, 1818,) 
 
 HAVE again the pleasure of presenting their acknowledgments to the Public Jor the increasing 
 patronage they have experienced since they last addressed them; they beg to repeat their former 
 assurance, that as they have not, so they will not, in any respect, deviate from those vrincivles 
 which first gained them the confidence of their Friends; and they acknoxvledge, with much 
 satisfaction, the many testimonies they have received of the general impression that this 
 Establishment has been the means of emancipating the Public from the alarming impositions in 
 the article of Tea, which have so long been practised, while it must prove a strong cLck a-’ainst 
 any similar frauds in future. * against 
 
 It is now unUersally admitted, that the Public ought to have been supplied with Teas very 
 far superior at their Prices, to any which have been sold for many years previous u Z 
 
 Company s^tablishment;-as a proof Families are respectfully invited to make a trial of the 
 
 C^pany sTeas, which they flatter themselves will gain much by comparison with any Teas at 
 the same Prices^ vended by any other House. 
 
 The extent of the Business of the London Genuine Tea Company, is without precedent ■ 
 the average Amount of their Sales being ipreceaent. 
 
 Upwards of 2,500 Pounds Weight of Tea every Day ! 
 
 Which simple fact is sufficient to show how highly their Establishment is appreciated. 
 
 BLACK. 
 
 Good Congou. 
 
 Superior ditto.. 
 
 Strong ditto. 
 
 Strong Souchong .. -_ 
 
 Full-flavoured Souchong . 
 Finest Caper and Pekoe .. 
 Finest Padra; . 
 
 Id cousequencf 
 
 (althoiieh the duty has been consiilerahlv lessene 
 the LONDON GENUINE COMPANY ha 
 
 numerous adulterations i 
 
 ^ j ^ GREEN. s d 
 
 Good Strong Green . 7 n 
 
 Fine full-flavoured Bloom .8 0 
 
 Hyson Kind. q « 
 
 Good Hyson. . _10 6 
 
 Full-flavoured ditto 0 
 
 Strong Young Hyson.10 6 
 
 Gunpowder.16y.&18 0 
 
 Coffee, Chocolate, and Cocoa; and that the two lattp» 
 
 CHOCOLATE....4y. M. per lb. COCOA.3j. \d. per Ib. 
 
 Company request the Public to observe, that they do not 
 solicit their Favours under any impression of vending low-priced tfas Tr>^ ^ i. * 
 easily this can be done, they need only be referred to the recent nLornf.'. ^ 
 
 ceedings, wherein it was proved that a profit of more than £600 per Cent was ^ 
 counterfeit with genuine Tea When persons publish PHc«! Tf Souchong al"'*Gre"en“S 
 below the lowest paid (even for inferior Teas') at the East rnHia Hdv.ioo *1, c ^feen leas, 
 deaUng deserve Jbe suspected ; as it is evidLt. that the 
 
 they adverse, unless the quality is depreciated by adulteration with fictit^us^Tea or Bo'hea" 
 
 to which latter a poisonous colouring is given when used to mix with Green t 4 ami th 
 
 mixture of which with genuine Tea has been so deservedlv exoosed bv th! r j 
 
 Tea Company, who are enabled to offer Teas of the best liniZ\n rooL^, London Genuine 
 
 nitude of their business, aided by such very quick returns at a small 
 
 paid at the East India House, to tie total ex^lSsion oferry’dtc^rlp^don "offnk&i'® 
 
 9. Reducing the Ficki Tea to Powder 
 
 8. Sorting andSifting after Drying. 
 
 ?• Rolling and Curling after Drying. 
 
 Gracechurch-Street. 
 
SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LONDON GENUINE TEA COMPANY. 
 
 'J^HE general use of Tea, and the comparatively high price it has 
 always maintained, had long since suggested to the minds of un¬ 
 principled persons, the great advantage to he derived from an imitation 
 of this admired exotic. By a statute so long hack as the reign of 
 George the First, a penalty of £100 was incurred hy the manufacturer of 
 spurious Tea ; and to such an extent has the practice been subsequently 
 carried, that the legislature has found it necessary to inflict still severer 
 penalties. But the numerous convictions during the summer of 1818, 
 of Tea-dealers, who had been till then considered respectable, and the 
 circumstances which transpired on their trials, gave the first serious 
 alarm to the public mind, and excited a general sensation of abhorrence 
 at a system which hazarded the health of the whole community 
 
 By a report in the Courier Newspaper of the 22d of June, 1818, one 
 defendant was convicted in the penalty of ^500 for manufacturing 
 1 cwt. of Sloe-leaves, 1 cwt. of Ash-leaves, and 1 civt. of leaves of 
 another tree, in imitation of Tea. To produce this imitation the 
 following horrid process was employed:—in order to be converted 
 into an article resembling black Tea, the leaves were first boiled, then 
 baked upon an iron plate, and when dry, rubbed with the hand, in order 
 to produce that curl which the genuine Tea had; they were then 
 coloured with logwood. The green Tea was manufaetured in a less 
 ipiestionable and more destructive manner: the leaves, aftei being 
 pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of copper, where they re¬ 
 ceived their colour from DUTCH PINK and VERDIGRIS! both 
 deadly poisons 1 
 
 By another report in the “ Times,” of May, 1818, another defendant 
 was convicted in the penalty of £M0 '.—Persons were employed to 
 gather the leaves, at 2d. per pound. The leaves, after boiling, (during 
 which process Verdigris, a rank poison, was put into the water,) were 
 squeezed in a press, then placed over a slow fire on sheets of copper 
 to dry! After drying they were sifted, and more Verdigris and 
 Dutch Pink added, to give the leaves that green bloom obsen'ahle 
 on genuine Tea. The black Tea was coloured with logwood I 
 
 In the same paper are reports of nine oMcr trials; the defendants in 
 Site of which submitted to verdicts for the Crown, —penalty £5\0 !— 
 N. B. The fnes for four not reported. 
 
 Besides the above, there were numerous convictions all over the king¬ 
 dom ; and in Scotland and Ireland, the penalties during a few months, 
 exceeded Fifteen Thousand Pounds ! !!—A country paper of August, 
 1818, states the arrest of a petty farmer, who had been actively em¬ 
 ployed in making spurious Tea, from black and deadly Nightshade, Ivy- 
 leaves. Alder-leaves, and Potatoe-leaves, the two first deadly poisons, 
 and the others decidedly injurious to health. These were curled by a 
 vitriolic preparation, and coloured with Verdigris and Copperas ! 
 
 The reports of other trials state, that imitative black Tea is made of 
 Ash-leaves.—When gathered they are first dried in the sun, then baked ; 
 they are next put upon a floor, and trod upon till the leaves are small, 
 then sifted and steeped in Copperas, with Sheep’s-dung, after which, 
 being dried on a floor, they are fit for use. There is also another mode : 
 when the leaves are gathered, they arehoiledin a copper, with Copperas 
 and Sheep’s-dung ! When the liquor is strained off, they are baked, 
 and trod upon till the leaves are small, after which they are fit for use. 
 The quantity manufactured at a small village, and within eight or ten 
 miles thereof, is supposed to be about twenty tons in a year! One man 
 acknowledged to have made six hundred weight in eveiy week, for six 
 months together, which he disposed of to various Tea-dealers. The 
 tine was sold for four guineas per cwt. equal to ninepence per lb. The 
 coarse at two guineas per cwt. equal to 4§rf. per lb. Elder-buds are 
 manufactured in some places to represent fine Teas. 
 
 All these circumstances, and the quick succession in which the con¬ 
 victions followed each other, seemed to point out most forcibly, the 
 
 necessity of some plan being devised to secure famUies against such a 
 system of fraud and viUainy. It had been proved that persons apparently 
 respectable, had embarked largely in this nefarious traffic, and a con¬ 
 sternation (the natural consequence of these detections) had seized all 
 ranks of society, who thus saw their health, and even their lives, 
 exposed to the mercy of unprincipled individuals. This reflection was 
 the more alarming, from the fact, that the practice was not confined to 
 any part of the country, but extended all over the kingdom. 
 
 On this ground, the London Genuine Tea Company was first 
 established;—it was composed of gentlemen of the City of London, 
 who united for the purpose of securing to the Public, by combining 
 individual advantage ivith general good, the certainty of obtaining a 
 genuine article, at a very moderate profit on the co.st price. To give 
 their intention publicity they had recourse to the usual channels; hut 
 in this earlv stage of their proceedings, and before their business had 
 commeticed, public meetings of the Tea-dealers were called, for the 
 purpose of opposing what the Public had already shewn themselves 
 determined to support. It was, perhaps, natural that these persons 
 should have felt alarmed, at the prospect of their trade (which the 
 iniquitous conduct of many of their fraternity had deservedly forfeited) 
 flowing into new channels; and that they would be well aware that 
 public patronage must follow such an undertaking.—All this might have 
 been expected, but it was by no means probable that for such reasons the 
 Public would be deterred from supporting the Company’s Establish¬ 
 ment.—"rhe contrary was the fact.—Patronage increased in proportion 
 to the efforts of the 'Trade to prevent it; their meetings dwindled into 
 insignificance, and were universally regarded with contempt; their 
 proceedings were one tissue of folly and imbecility; and now only serve 
 as a standing mark of that weakness, into which men must be led, who 
 endeavour to uphold their claims to public support by clamour, instead 
 of the more decided and upright method of selling an article equally 
 good and genuine with that of their competitors. 'The business of the 
 London Genuine Tea Company has now assumed that steady character 
 which places it, in point of importance, above any other house in the 
 Trade. It has been already stated in the preceding address, that the 
 average Amount of their sale has been 
 
 UPWARDS OF 
 
 2,500 POUNDS PER DAY; 
 
 this is at the rate of 
 
 9,782 Chests, or about 782,500 Pounds per Annum ; 
 
 ON which the duty alone is nearly 
 
 £ 120 , 000 ! 
 
 A much larger sum than was probably ever contributed to the exigencies 
 of the state by any other house in the Tea Trade. 'These calculations 
 are made on id'soiute Sales to the Public, and are independent of Teas 
 sold in large parcels to wholesale dealers. 
 
 It is not, however, to be expected that the recent convictions will 
 suppress a crime which has existed for a century, and to the commission 
 of which, the temptation is stronger than ever; while the duties remain 
 unrepealed, the opinion may fairly be hazarded that imposition will still 
 continue to be practised on the Public. This opinion must be strengthened 
 when it is stated, that a profit of £300 to £600 per cent, can be 
 obtained by this species of fraud; and it is therefore probable, that not a 
 single individual of those lately fined wHl desist from his nefarious 
 practices; the profits of which have long since enabled him to meet the 
 trivial loss which attends a conviction, and will speedily reimburse him 
 the penalty in which he has been convicted. Many of these persons 
 still carry on business with as much effrontery as if their characters 
 had incurred no stigma; and there is no doubt, from the low Prices 
 
tlicy advertise, that they are still imposing their poisonous trash upon 
 the Public. It, therefore, becomes necessary, that there should be 
 some better security against the fraud than the honesty of a Tea-dealer, 
 or the terrors of the Board of Excise.—Such security is afforded by 
 the establishment of this Undertaking, on the broad basis of integrity 
 and public faith, and by the means of detecting the spurious manu¬ 
 facture, which are as follow: 
 
 METHODS OF DETECTING ADULTERATED TEA. 
 
 Distinctions between the Sloe and Whitethorn, and the genuine Chinese 
 Itaf —The Sloe and Whitethorn are the leaves generally selected for the 
 purpose of manufacturing imitative Tea, but fortunately few leaves have 
 less resemblance to each other than these and the Chinese leaf. 
 
 The shape of the Chinese leaf\& slender and narrow, the edges deeply 
 jagged like the teeth of a saw, and the end is sharply pointed. The 
 surface is smooth and silky, and the colour a delicate pale green. 
 
 The Sloe-leaf is more rounded, and the extremity bluntly pointed; 
 the jags on the edges are not so deep nor so sharp as the Chinese leaf; 
 the surface more uneven, the texture not so delicate, and the colour a 
 dark olive green. 
 
 N. B. The above comparisons can only be made after the dried leaves 
 have been infused in boiling water several hours. 
 
 Detection of spurious Tea by chemical analysis. —Upon suspicion of 
 having any counterfeit Tea, made from any shrub, either of Chinese or 
 English produce, make an infusion of it; pour out a cupfull, into which 
 put a grain and a half of blue vitriol, or copperas; if it be genuine green 
 Tea, it will turn to a deep blue, next to black; but if adulterated, there 
 wll appear colours of green, black, &c. 
 
 Spurious black Tea, slightly moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of 
 white paper, immediately produces a blueish black stain, and speedily 
 affords, by immersion in cold water, the same coloured tincture, which 
 changes to a reddish colour, by adding a few drops of sulphuric acid. 
 Genuine Tea produces an amber-coloured infusion, which does not 
 become reddened by sulphuric acid. 
 
 From the observations of Mr. Accum (Treatise on Culinary Poisons) 
 on nineteen samples of imitative green Tea, it appeared that they were 
 all coloured with carbonate of copper, (poison.) The test to detect 
 this species of adulteration is, by shaking a teaspoonful of the suspected 
 leaves with about two table spoonfuls of liquid ammonia, diluted with 
 half its bulk in water. If the leaves are impregnated with the minutest 
 portion of copper, the liquid flowing at the top will exhibit a fine blue 
 colour. Spurious green Tea coloured with carbonate of copper, acquires 
 a black colour, by being impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 
 Genuine green Tea suffers no change from the action of these tests. 
 
 But there is a species of deterioration less pernicious, but equally 
 fraudulent with the foregoing, viz. the mixture of Bohea with the 
 superior Teas. The very rank and inferior qualities of this Tea very 
 much depreciate the goodness and flavour of other Teas; but the low 
 price at which it is usually sold, offers a strong temptation to the less 
 scrupulous dealer to mix it with the superior kinds, and thereby gain an 
 unfair and exorbitant profit. This shameful practice was deservedly and 
 effectually exposed and reprobated by the London Genuine Tea 
 C oMPANV, one of whose principal pledges to the Public was, to exclude 
 this, as well as all other inferior Teas from their Establishment; and so 
 great a sensation did this exposure excite in the Trade, as well as in the 
 public mind, that Bohea has been gradually declining in price, and is 
 now professedly reprobated by those individuals, who, in the first 
 instance, had the efirontery to assert, that Bohea was not only harmless 
 but wholesome. 
 
 And here the'Loti'DO'H Genuine Tea ConektiY take the opportunity 
 of cautioning the Public against the numerous imitations of their 
 Establishment. An unfair advantage has ueen taken of the high 
 
 character of their Teas, by some obscure shopkeepers, ('heir early opponents) 
 
 who are now seeking to build their own fame on that of the Company, 
 
 and by imitating their wrappers, method of sealing, p acking, g(c. have 
 in some instances, deceived those persons who were not sufficiently aware 
 
 of the proper distinctions, but who, no doubt, cannot be imposed on a 
 
 second time, as these imitators have scrupulously avoided the most 
 
 important resemblance, viz, the good qualities of THE Teas. 
 
 Some of these imitators have not scrupled to forge the Engraving of the 
 Company’s Establishment, 23 ; Ludgate-Hill, which is printed on all 
 
 the wrappers; and Purchasers are requested to notice, that the Company 
 
 do not warrant any Teas as coming from their Warehouse, unless they 
 are packed in leaden cases, inclosed in a wrapper bearing an engraved 
 representation of their principal Establishment, sealed at one end, and 
 the printed price affixed on the other. 
 
 In eonclusion, the London Genuine Tea Company beg leave, on 
 the part of their Agents, to respeetfully solicit a continuance of that 
 support with which they have hitherto been honoured. Upwards of 
 Seven Hundred Agents are already appointed, and the daily applications 
 from other towns are so numerous, that, in a very short space of time, 
 there will be scarcely a village where their Teas may not be purchased; 
 and they beg to assure the Public, that as their reputation has been 
 established by the sale of a genuine article, they will continue the 
 same line of conduct they have hitherto pursued, and hope, by vending 
 the best Teas oxAy,free from mixture with Bohea or other deterioration, 
 to ensure their future favours and recommendations. 
 
 BEST METHOD OF MAKING TEA. 
 
 Tea must be constantly kept from the air, or it will lose its 
 virtue. The choice of water is an important object in making Tea; it 
 should be free from impurities, or it will not extract the true flavour; 
 clear river or rain water is to be preferred, as spring water will not 
 draw off the strength of the Tea; but water filtered through a stone is 
 by far the best. The water should not be boiled on a smokey fire, in 
 an open vessel, or in any thing that can give it a metallic or other taint. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that in England, where Tea is so 
 universally drank, the method of making it is less attended to than 
 perhaps in any country in Europe. A small portion of Tea (even of 
 the middling and inferior kinds) to a great quantity of water, is a 
 common practice in almost every family; and this custom generally 
 arises not so much from regard to economy, as from the force of habit; 
 but it must be erident that such a method cannot produce that fine 
 fragrant beverage, so much extolled in all parts of the world. 
 Foreigners universally drink the FINEST Teas, and in profusion. The 
 tea-table is with them one of the first luxuries of life; and though, in 
 this country, in families where it cannot be afforded, economy may 
 be pleaded noth propriety, yet those to whom it is a minor consideration, 
 would find the superior flavour and fragrance of the best Teas, when 
 made of a proper strength, amply compensate for the difference in 
 expence.—Ladies should not trust to the judgment of their servants in 
 making Tea. 
 
 —>^••• 44 — 
 
 The following account of the mode of rearing the Tea Plant in China is 
 annexed, which will no doubt prove interesting. 
 
 [ See Engravings in front of this Circular. ] 
 
 The first process is that of preparing the ground for the seed, by 
 making holes at short distances from each other, and in a strait line, 
 with an implement having a long handle and sharp-pointed head. 
 The seeds are then sown by putting a few, from six to twelve in number, 
 into each of the holes, which are four or five inches deep in the 
 ground; they are then watered, and careful persons are employed to 
 enrich the ground by a mixture of soil and manure. 
 
 The next process is the gathering of the leaves, which is not done 
 until the Tea-Plant has reached three years’ growth; they are then 
 very carefully plucked, one by one, lest the branches of the Plant 
 should be torn. After they are gathered, they are sorted into classes, 
 according to their size and quality, previously to drying, care being taken 
 that there are not too many in one heap, or they will spoil. 
 
 The leaves are not dried on copper plates, as generally supposed, but 
 in iron pans; for chemistry has now ascertained, beyond the possibility 
 of a doubt, that no materials but iron and earthenware are used for 
 the drying of Tea; and that, were it tinctured with the slightest particle 
 of copper, it would easily be detected, by the chemical experiments 
 that have been made on it. 
 
 The diying is performed in public dr 3 ’ing-houses, built for the 
 purpose, and where every person, who has not the necessary apparatus, 
 may bring leaves to be dried. There are, in these public laboratories. 
 
several ovens, sometimes as many as twenty, each of which is three 
 feet high, with a wide, fiat, square or round iron pan at the top; 
 the side, over the mouth of the oven, is bent upwards, for the person 
 who attends the drying, who stands on the opposite side, secure from 
 the fire, and turns the leaves; also, one or more low but very long 
 tables, covered with fine reed mats, on which the leaves are to be 
 rolled; and a ntimber of workmen, some of whom are employed in 
 attending the drying of the leaves by the oven, and others sitting 
 cross-legged by the tables, to roll the leaves as they come hot from 
 the pan. 
 
 The leaves must be dried when fresh; and they are generally 
 brought to the laboratory the same day they are gathered. The process 
 of drynng is thus performed:—some pounds of the leaves are put into 
 the iron pan, which, by the fire underneath, has already been heated 
 to that degree, that the leaves, when they are put in, may crackle at 
 the edges of the pan. The fire in the oven must also be so regulated, 
 that the man attending the drying pan may be able to stir up the 
 leaves with his hands, which he continues to do until they become so 
 hot that he cannot handle them any longer: the instant they become 
 so, he takes them out of the pan with a shovel, broad at the mouth 
 like a fan, and pours them upon the mat, in order to their being 
 rolled, as follows:—Each person takes before him a quantity of the 
 leaves, and, whilst they are hot, commences rolling them in the 
 palms of his hands until cold, by which means they are equally curled. 
 
 They then undergo a second drying over the fire in the pans, until all 
 the juice is extracted. In this second drying, they are stirred, not 
 
 —«e{o( 
 
 quickly and hastily as in the first, but very slowly and deliberately’, 
 for fear of breaking the curls. They are next delivered to the rollers, 
 who roll them a second time in the same manner ; and if the leaves 
 are not fully dry, the process of drying and rolling is repeated a third 
 time. 
 
 Great care is taken in the second and third drying, that the heat of 
 the fire be lessened in proportion as the leaves have lost their juices 
 and humidity, or they would be burnt or turned black. For the more 
 valuable Teas, the drying and rolling are repeated four or five, and 
 even seven times; thus drying the leaves more gradually, by which 
 means they preserve that lively and agreeable green colour which 
 distinguishes the best Teas. The pans are always washed clean with 
 hot water between each drying, because a sharp juice sticks to the 
 edges and bottom of the pan, which is apt to discolour the leaves. 
 
 The drying and curling of the leaves being finished, they are spread 
 on the floor, or on the tables covered with mats, and are sorted into 
 classes, by which the grosser leaves, and such as are not well curled, 
 or are too much burnt, are divided from the rest. The dust and 
 smaller leaves are separated by sieves. 
 
 When the Tea has been dried, it is packed in earthen vessels or 
 baskets; and after it has been kept for some months in these, it is 
 taken out and again dried over a gentle fire, in order to deprive it of 
 any humidity it might still have retained, or contracted during the 
 rainy season. It is then preserved from the air, in earthen or por¬ 
 celain vessels, until packed in boxes, lined with lead, and covered with 
 a species of fine tissue paper, in which manner it is exported. 
 
 W very interesting History or the Tea Plant u just published by the London Genuine Tea Company^ illustrated with Thirteen elegant 
 
 Engravings, price 1*. 6rf. 
 
 ▻ 
 
 6 
 
 ' 'zaz