The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-09-02
TASTING TEA FOR MONEY.
MEN WHO SIP THE CUP THAT
OILERS AS A BUSINESS.
Professional Tea TasterS in New Work
How they work Their DelicacY
and Accuracy of Taste

Professional Tea Tastcrs in New Work
How they Work Their DelicacY
nnd Accuracy of Taste
A large, somewhat bare looking apart
ment; a number of shelves along the
walls, like those in a druggists shop,
upon which are ranged row after row OF
small tin canisters containing samples oil
tea; here and there print of scene in
the Flowcry land looking dim aad fee
BILE, as If exhausted in the effort to shed
an Oriental glow over anything in the
hopelessly matter-of- fact locality Of Wall
street; in a corner large office desk IN
the center of the room circular table
upon which stands a FURNISHED urn,
ilauked by a diminutive copper scales
and surrounded by number of tiny
china cups-such is the orthodox tea
brokers office in this city. OF offices of
this kind there are about two dozen in
New York, being the number Of tea
brokers, large and small, engaged in the
trade in this city. These offices are
chiefly situated in Wall, Water and
Front streets.
One of the most important figures in
the tea brokers' Office is the professional
tea faster. To him is entrusted the work
of testing the various samples and fixing
their respective grades and values. The
manner in which this work of testing the
samples is conducted is as follows:
silver half dine is thrown into the scale
on the one side and enough tea to bal
lance the coin is dropped in on the other
side. The tea thus measured is thrown
into one Of the little cups, which are ca
pable of holding half gill. The samples
TO be tested having thus been disposed
Of in the various cups, boiling water is
poured upon them from the urn.
The tea faster then holds each of the
cups in turn beneath his nostrils to catch
the aroma, which is of great assistance
to him in determining the quality. When
the tea has sufficiently cooled to be not
much more than lukewarm the expert
proceeds to test it by tasting it. This
operation is conducted with much delib-
Grafton and even soemnitv, the tea faster
closing his eyes as If to shut himself
away from the outer world and some
times even insisting upon the most abso-
lute silence being maintained by those
about him as long as the test is III prog.
ress. He only takes a few dainty sips
from each cup, but sometimes he applies
himself a second, a third and even a
fourth time to the same sample. The
tests having been made, he renders
decision as to the quality of the different
teas he has sampled and the values at
which they should be rated in the mar
ket.
BY many it may be thought that the
decision as to the quality of different
kinds of tea must depend largely upon
individual ideas and tastes. AS far as
the professional tea faster is concerned
this is mistake. Tea tasting is very
decidedly profession in itself, and has
to be learned by dint of application and
experience. That it is not merely
question of individual taste is demon
strated by the fact that when, as is often
the case, a certain set of samples is sub
mitted to several tea tasters acting inde-
pendent of each other, the various opin-
ions rendered as to quality and value are
almost invariably identical. So delicate
are the perceptions of the professional
tea faster that he not only quickly and
accurately grades the different samples
submitted to him, recognizing the most
minute gradations, but he is also in
many instances able to determine the
part of the country in which certain
tea was grown. In the same way the
Judgment of the tea faster purchasing
the tea in China for the importers here,
as a general rule, comedies with that of
the tea tasters here.
The tea trade in this city is divided
into four distinct branches-the i'm
porter, the broker, the jobber and the
retailer. The wholesale price of tea
ranges from ten to seventy cents per
pound. The importers profit is mod
crate but remunerative one. The largest
percentage of proft-from forty to sixty
per cent goes to the retailer. When
cargo of tea is received by the importer
samples of the consignment-of often con
sisting of various kinds Of tea-are sent
to the broker. He disposes of it to the
large retailers or to the jobhers, who in
turn sell in lesser quantities to the smaller
retailers. The broker receives one pei
cent. commission on all sales effected by
him. The tea faster acts in the interest!
of the broker, to whose advantage it il
to have a correct estimate as to the quail
ties and values of the different teas he il
handling, in order to meet the require
ments of his customers. YOr
Herald