PACKET TEAS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12497, 7 May 1906, Page 8

PACKET TEAS.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THK rRKSS." Sir,-—ln your issue of Thursday last yen have an article headed, "Tariff Reform," and I notice that some wellknown merchant Ls reported to have said that, he believed that better packed teas can be procured by importing direct from Ceylon titan when they are packed here, and that when teas ore put iip in packets locally, it means that the blender can up all kinds of cheap teas to his own advantage, and further, that when teas aro packed m Ceylon, a better article is put in, and the consumer gets the benefit. Probably the merchant referred to is interested in the importation of lead packets from Ceylon, and does little or no packing hero, but ho cannot be aware that lead packets from Ceylon cften contain a. large proportion of common milled Pekoe, Souchongs, and red leaf, and tliat there are always broker* and others in Colombo who are willing to put up this class of tea in lead rackets if desired. The fact of a tea being i»cked in Ceylon is, unfortunately, no guarantee of quality, for as ieoentlv as the end of March last, persons were fined in the Colombo Courts for offering for pale teas labelled finest broken orange Pekoe, when, m reality. they were tho commonest teas procurable. As for teas packed in Ceylon being better than teas packed locally, this is quite a mistake: Finest Ceylon teas aro certainly choice, but it is generally conceded by tea experts that* they ' are greatly improved by judicious blending with finest Assams and autumnal Darjoelings. which, taking tho season through, bring, both in Ixmdon and Calcutta, far higher prices than anything produced iv Ceylon.— Yours, etc., "MARTIN L. RIDLEY.