We present a study of superconducting properties of both large grain (1 mm average grain size) and small grain (50 micron average grain size) Niobium materials containing varying amounts of Tantalum impurities that have been used in the fabrication of high accelerating gradient superconducting radio frequency cavities. We found that a buffered chemical polishing of these Niobium samples causes a distinct reduction in the superconducting parameters like T_C, wt- ppm to 1300 wt-ppm. Implications of these results on the performance of niobium superconducting radio frequency cavities are discussed, especially the anomalous high field RF losses that have been reported in the literature.