Page 3 Advertisements Column 1

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 126, 28 February 1880, Page 3

A. writer in the " Melbourne Heroin says:—-I confess* to an i>ispiration of fiendish delight when I read the correspondence in tlio " Argus" concerning the adulteration of tea and coffee. Holding a theory that the intomporenco of temperance people in the consumption of the herb that cheers bill not inebriates, is little, if any, less disastrous than excess in alcoholic liquors, the revelation of the poisonous character of tea jind coffee, which has recently been made, comes to nie as a species of welcome flattery. We learn from the " Foo Chow Herald" that "It has been discovered that certain Hongs have purchased a quantity of willow and other spurious leaf, with a view to its admixture with the genuine t.a leaf. This ' lie'tea is picked in the neighbourhood of Foo Chow, and is manipulated like the genuine tea leaf, which it closely resembles. 1 Again, we are informed I>3' a correspondent quoted in a letter in the "Argus" on this subject, that the Chinese broker, being asked to supply stronger tea, replies in pigeon English, and with much grimace, the while pressing his hand upon his Stomach, that it will give you the " belly ache'— the fact being that so supply stronger tea he makes a mixture with which he sprinkles the tea, so as to give it tho flavor and aroma. This is called ' maloo mixture," aloes, gamboge, indigo, and lime, or Prussian blue and gypsum, all serving to produce adulteration. ' There, -what do you think of r lovers of the social five o'clock tea, how do you like the notion that your delicate system is poisoned with every cup consumed of igo you love, with aloes willow u-ui, fciuiibogo, indigo, lime, Prussian blue, and gypsum ? As for ooU'oo wo learn that in America a patent Inn been taken out for moulding chicory into " cofFeo berries," and that olay is moulded into the shape of berries, and flavored with cofToo essence. Further, we hear that soveral mills aroongagod in griuding a white stone into a fine powdor for purees of adulteration. Thcso mills grind threo grados—soda grado, sugar grade, and flour grade.' Hundreds of barrels of this torro alba am sold every year to bo mixed with sugar confectionery and other white substances. Uallio acid, tincture of iron, and sulphuric are other cheerful principles of Chiueso tea. I protest that I could dance a fling of exultation—for lo! 1 hold in my hand now a prompt rejoinder to those good people who ure for ever diuuiug