Tea, its history and mystery

The first direct importation of tea into England was in 1669, and consisted of but “100 pounds of the best tea that could be procured.” In 1678 this order was increased to 4,713 pounds, which appears to have “glutted the market;” the following six years the total importations amounting to only 410 pounds during that entire period. How little was it possible from these figures to have foreseen that tea would one day become one of the most important articles of foreign productions consumed.

Up to 1864 China and Japan were practically the only countries producing teas for commercial purposes. In that year India first entered the list as an exporter of tea, being subsequently followed by Java and Ceylon. In 1864, when India first entered the list of tea-producing countries, China furnished fully 97 per cent. of the world’s supply and India only 3, the latter increasing at such a marvelous rate that it now furnishes 57, China declining to 43 per cent. of the total.

TABLE 1.
ESTIMATED TEA PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD.

From these estimates it will be noted that China ranks first in tea-producing countries, followed by Japan, India, Ceylon and Java in the order of their priority; the total product of the other countries having little or no effect as yet on the world’s supply.

This most important food auxiliary is now in daily use as a beverage by probably over one-half the population of the entire world, civilized as well as savage, the following being the principal countries of consumption:—

TABLE 2.
ESTIMATED TEA CONSUMPTION OF THE WORLD.

From these estimates it will be observed that England ranks first in the list of tea-consuming countries, the United States second, and Russia third, the Australian colonies and Canada coming next in order, comparatively little tea being used in France, Germany and the other European countries. It is rarely used in some parts of the globe, and is practically unknown in a great many other countries. It is also apparent that 90 per cent. of the world’s supply is chiefly consumed by English-speaking people, fully 75 per cent. of this being used by England and her dependencies alone, the United States being next in importance as a tea-consuming country. And it may here be noted that while the world’s production of tea has been very largely increased during the last quarter of a century in greater ratio than that of any other of the great staples of commerce, the production of China and Japan having increased at least 50 per cent. in that period, to which must be added that of India and Ceylon, from which countries little or none was received until a few years ago. Yet it cannot be said that the consumption has increased in anything like the same proportion, which will account for the great decline in price in later years, and to prevent prices from going still lower it is evident that new markets must be opened up for its sale in other countries where it has not yet been introduced.

TABLE 3.
SUMMARY.

In England, particularly, the increase in the consumption of tea in late years borders on the marvelous, the figures for 1890 reaching upwards of 195,000,000 pounds, which, at the present rate of increase, will, in all probability, exceed 200,000,000 in 1892, as in the quarter of a century between 1865 and 1890 the consumption rose from 3½ to 5 pounds per capita of the population. But as in the latter half of that period strong India teas were more freely used, being increased appreciably by the similar Ceylon product in the closing years of that time largely displacing the lighter liquored teas of China, a larger consumption is indicated by the number of gallons of liquid yielded. This is calculated on the moderate estimate formed in a report to the Board of Custom to the effect that if one pound of China leaf produces five gallons of liquor of a certain depth of color and body, one pound of India tea will yield seven and a half gallons of a similar beverage. Then by allowing for an apparent arrest of the advancing consumption when the process of displacement was only commencing, the increase in the consumption of tea in the British Islands has not only been steady but rapid; thus, from 17 gallons per head in 1865 to 24 in 1876, 28 in 1886, reaching 33½ gallons per head per annum in 1890, the figures of last year almost exactly doubling that of the first year of the series, so that in consequence of the introduction of the stronger products of India and Ceylon the people of Britain have been enabled to double their consumption of the beverage, although the percentage of increase in the leaf has been only from 3½ to 5 pounds during the same period. Ceylon tea, which a decade ago was only beginning to intrude itself as a new and suspiciously regarded competitor in the English market with products so well known and established as the teas of China and India, has recently made such rapid progress that its position in the British market in 1890, rated by home consumption, occupying third place on the list. India teas 52 per cent., China 30 per cent., Ceylon 18 per cent.

TABLE 4.

Showing relative positions of kinds of Tea consumed in England, and increase in pounds of same since 1880:—

In 1868, when the price of tea was reduced in England to an average of 36 cents per pound, the consumption increased to the heretofore unprecedented figures of 107,000,000 pounds, while in 1888, when the average price was again reduced to 20 cents, owing to the enormous increase in the production of India and Ceylon teas, the total consumption became augmented to 185,000,000 pounds, comprised as follows, in round numbers:—

The latter, for the first time on record, exceeding that of China teas, being an almost exact inversion of the figures of 1886 in favor of India and Ceylon teas, by which it will be seen that China is year by year becoming of less importance as a source of tea supply to English consumers. And as the demand becomes greater the importations from India and Ceylon are constantly expanding, prices being correspondingly reduced to an unprecedentedly low figure, being now so cheap in the United Kingdom as to be in daily use in almost every household. The relative positions of China, India and Ceylon teas in England at the present writing being

The proportion of Black tea consumed in England is about as 5 to 1, the per capita consumption ranging from 5 to 6 pounds for the entire population.

Ceylon teas continue to grow in public favor to a marvelous extent in England and beyond anticipating in the natural growth of consumption, they help fill up the yearly displacement of China teas. The total production for 1890 was nearly 38,000,000 pounds against over 30,000,000 pounds for 1889, and 18,500,000 pounds for 1888, thus showing an increase of 19,500,000 pounds for the two years. The supply for 1891 is about 40,000,000 pounds, the stock being increased 3,000,000 pounds, which may be considered very moderate and quite steady considering the steady all-round demand there is for Ceylon teas in that country. But there is not the slightest doubt but that the check which the consumption of China tea appears to have sustained in England is entirely due to the forced use of India and Ceylon teas in that country and her dependencies, there being a positive revulsion of taste in many sections in favor of the truer, purer and more delicate and richer of China teas. Medical opinions have been recently given to prove that the excessive quantity of tannin contained in India and Ceylon teas is very injurious to health, and a revival of the Chinese tea-trade may be confidently expected in the future.

So far as the English tea-trade is concerned the market for China and Japan teas is now but a tame affair to what it was only a few years ago, little interest being taken there in the tea product of these countries. Year by year since 1885 China and Japan teas has had less hold upon the English market, and it is remarkable to note how continuously the consumption of these varieties have been on the decline there from that time, notwithstanding their superior merits in drawing and drinking qualities over both India and Ceylons. In that year their consumption in the British isles amounted to over 113,000,000 pounds, but fell off to less than 105,000,000 pounds in 1886, to about 90,000,000 in 1887, to 80,000,000 in 1888, to 60,000,000 in 1889. The quantity of China and Japan teas consumed in the whole United Kingdom declining to about 50,000,000 pounds in 1890, although the prices for them were exceedingly low during that period. There are two main causes for this serious reduction which have been in operation simultaneously and for a length of time. The first was the great competition of India teas stimulated for the reasons already named, and the second cause the extraordinary favor that Ceylon teas found with English consumers in 1888, when the quantity imported for use from that island amounted to 18,500,000 pounds, or nearly double of what it was the preceding year, the quantities cleared for 1889 and 1890 being respectively 28,500,000 pounds and 34,500,000 pounds, showing an astonishing increase within the short space of three years, and which fully accounts for the decadence of the English demand for China and Japan teas. The consumption of the latter varieties has retrograded there, while that for India and Ceylon teas has increased proportionately, so that, although the market for the former descriptions has occasionally given signs of revival, they have been only spasmodic efforts at recovering, the much expected and promised reaction soon subsiding. And instead of the phenomenal cheapness of China and Japans being regarded as a recommendation to consumers it has been used as an argument by British dealers as an evidence of their unpopularity, and so completely has the demand been transferred from China and Japan teas to Indias and Ceylons that it has been no uncommon occurrence for the latter kinds to be selling at improving rates whilst the former descriptions have been disposable only at drooping prices.

The enormous size of the tea estates in India and Ceylon as compared with the small gardens of China and Japan give the growers in the former countries several advantages over those in the latter as they can be worked more systematically and with less expense in larger areas. The use of machinery in curing and firing also lessens the cost of preparation for market, together with a saving in freight and quicker sale consequent to English preferences giving a speedier return for the money invested. The advantages which India and Ceylon tea-growers have over those of China are greater command of capital, as in both India and Ceylon tea estates are generally owned by companies consisting of shareholders whose living is not dependent on the product of the plantations. The companies can consequently afford to carry on the business at a loss for several years, can purchase extensive tea lands, and can spend large sums on machinery, labor and experiments as well as on agents to introduce and distribute them. The India and Ceylon tea-growers can obtain loans at a lower rate of interest, borrowing money at from 4 to 5 per cent., while their Chinese competitors have to pay from 20 to 30 per cent. for the same accommodations, in addition to a command of better chemical and agricultural knowledge. But against these admitted advantages of India and Ceylon, China possesses one great advantage, that is, that the Chinese grower, working for himself instead of wages, brings greater care and more industry to the task. Experience with him takes the place of science, and he is thus enabled to produce a finer flavored tea than has yet or ever will be produced in either India or Ceylon. Again the great decline in the consumption of China teas in England and her dependencies cannot be attributed, as is so loudly proclaimed by her statisticians, to any falling off in the quality of China teas or any inherent merit possessed by those of India or Ceylon, but simply to the narrow and contracted policy of her merchants of favoring and forcing the product of her colonies to the prejudice if not positive exclusion of that of the older tea-growing countries.

In 1865 China exported over 120,000,000 pounds of tea, in 1870 nearly 170,000,000 pounds, in 1880 over 214,000,000 pounds, reaching the enormous total of 221,000,000 pounds in 1890, thus China’s export has also been increasing in a proportionate degree. But although the figures for 1870 and 1890 show that in twenty years it has nearly doubled, still it is not such a remarkable increase relatively when compared with that of India, which during the same period has increased nearly fourteen fold in quantity. In estimating the probability of a recovery in the position of China teas in the markets of the world the following considerations are of interest on the subject: First, it is well known that the heavy Likin (grower’s tax) Kutang (transit dues) and export duties levied on tea have contributed in a great measure to the decadence of the tea-trade in that country and to the development of that of India and Ceylon, where the article, at least, starts free and unencumbered. The Chinese laboring under this disadvantage, at the outset, have endeavored to compete with India and Ceylon by reducing the cost of production and lowering their standard of quality with a consequent deterioration in the grade of the leaf. This changed condition of the tea-trade may be attributed to these specific causes. Fifty years ago India and Ceylon produced no tea, as it was not until 1840 that the export from the former began with a small venture of 400 pounds, since that year, however, the increase has been both rapid and striking. Thus, commencing in 1840, the export has steadily increased year after year until now, when the average annual production reaches 100,000,000 pounds, of which England consumes some 97,000,000 pounds, the balance going to Australia and other of her colonies. It is contended by the Chinese themselves that if the Likin and export duties were removed entirely or the export duty alone reduced to an ad valorem charge of 5 per cent. it would greatly help those engaged in the China tea-trade in their competition with the growers and shippers of India and Ceylon, others holding that a simple reduction of the duty will not permanently benefit the China tea-trade unless it enables China to lay down teas in Europe and America at a less price than can be done by either India or Ceylon.