Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-11-16
THE CUP THAT CHEERS.
FACTS OF INTEREST ABOUT TEAAND
ITS DRINKERS.

Testing the Beverage by Taste and Smell
Men Who Mako Business Of 18th,
Effect Of Tea on tho Diet-Doctors DIFF
fer on tho Question.
From time to time wonderful stories Gro,
up touching the all but supernatural power.
OF those professional gentlemen who make
fine incomes out of highly-cultivated sense
of taste and smell The wine merchant viii
invest a goodly store of capital on the strength
Of the verdict of an examiner who pro
nounces that such wine ''has a future
before it, or has a good nose,n or Selling.
nicely" or, if it happens to be a blend
that he can ''feel the old wine coming
through" At all events his words have
weight, and the victory of a vintage is often
directly due to his acquired sagacity In the
matter. 80 In the tea trade we hear Of par
allei marvels and feats of tasting.
| TESTING TEAS BY MERE SMELL
There Is fresh story to hand, told by the
| managing director of largo tea dealing
firm, who is a tea faster and blender OF
twenty-five years experience, and who states
] that he lately observed the extraordinary
! performance Of leading broker in Mincing
| lane with sixty teas ranging within penny
| per pound in value. Of these 100 infusions
were made, the pots numbered and mixed
up, and then the cunning magician of Min
cling lane proceeded to pick out the sixty
duplicates without making single mistake.
Prodigious, indeed! The sense of smell in
the profession is educated up to pointer
pitch, and on this subject the tea dealers
words merit recording. He opines that it is
poss'b with constant practice, to value teas
as correctly by smelling the infused leaf as by
tasting, and goes on to say:
II have bought thousands of chests in pub
lie sale by smelling the infused leaf only, and
have constantly valued public sale teas on
the same plan. Nevertheless, for blending
purposes, it is absolutely necessary to taste.
had fourteen years experience in tasting
on the market, and left it eleven years ago to
enter the blended tea trade. 1 then had to
commence to learn what Inever knew before
the art of blending tea-and I am con-
WINGED that, for this growing department Of
the trade, 1t is not only necessary that a man
should have good palate and keen sense Of
smell, but that he should, by constant atten-
ton, understand the art Of selecting such
teas as will blend with each other.
"A man may have ever SO keen a palate
and sense of smell, and be able to value tea
to farthing per pound, and yet be no
blender. Having produced blend success
fully, the abilities of blender are severely
tried by his having to maintain its quality
and character, and nothing but constant
practice, indomitable perseverance and skill
will enable him to succeed"
All this would 60 to show that tea faster
must be a very superior mortal indeed, and
good blender veritable boon and blessing to
men. Indeed, if all the nice qualities emu
merated come out in his private life ''when
the enterprising blenders not attending" he
must be an ornament to the society he graces
with his presence. Possibly he might even
let his thoughts take poetical form and
give them to the world under the title of s'In-
fusoria"
We are all aware that his is perilous
craft, involving attacks Of headache and gid
diness, owing to the action of the essential
oil, which has been known to produce par
alysis in persons employed in habitually pack
ing tea. OF his courage and scientific devo-
ton to his profession there can be no doubt.
He it is who realizes the proper proportions
OF volatile oil, theme, a heterogeneous COM
pound analogous to caseine or gluten, modi-
ficatiOn of tannin and such nice things as
gum, sugar, starch, fat, woody fiber, salts,
etc" which are dlscoverable in tea and he
would render no small service to the world if
he would tell us exactly which is the very
best way to make tea.
DOCTORS DIFFER OVER THE USE OF TEA
Doctors differ over the dietetic and medical
uses Of the eastern leaf While some physi-
clans have overpraised its value, others have
regarded it as the source of many diseases,
especially of the nervous system. Still, on
the whole, the concensus of opinionis in favor
of the judicious use of the cup that cheers but
not inebriateS
We are told that theme has the effect of di-
minishing the daily waste or disintegration
of the bodily tissues, aud that by its con-
sumption the health and strength Of the body
will be maintained in an equal degree upon
smaller supply of food tea, therefore, saves
food-stands, to a certain extent, in the place
Of nourishment, 'while at the same time it
soothes the body and enlivens the mind"
1t is also known that cold tea is a most USE
full article of diet for soldiers campaigning,
and that it is largely patronized by sportsmen
and people engaged in agricultural labor in
hot weather, and is said by eminent scientists
to be able to promote all vital actions;" but
the real fact of the matter is that the public
find it very hard indeed to get cup of good
tea.
Taste in this matter likewise needs educat-
ing. Many have an extraordinary perverse
liking for strong tea-of the sort quantity de-
scribed by an old Irishwoman as being capa-
bic Of taking powerful grip of the second
wather;' the great majority boil the leaf,
and commit the fatal error of letting it stand
too long; too often the student is addicted to
the treacherous habit of keeping off his nat
ural sleep by the frequent use of the decoc-
ton, and in this use of the stimulating
draught the list of sinners on the overstrong
side is long one.
There is really nothing better to travel on
than tea, but how rarely do we find it, OF
course the delicate luxurieS of the boudoir, |
that lovely laboratory wherein the fair cum
ningly concoct the fragrant dish, are not
here alluded to. In such favored spots tea !
making has been carried to the height of a |
fine art, but we speak rather OF the thin |
liquid vended to the public at Bullets and |
small shops-surely it can be improved, with |
no extra expenditure as regards material, by /
some closer and more scientific method than /
that now habitually in vogue.
We have coffee stalls, and they are largely /
patronized. and it might not be Dad idea to /
start tea stalls whereat real tea could be pro- !
cured for few pence Anyway, when We 1
read of all the wonderful knowledge Of the /
tea tasters and the blenders, and when we .
reflect on the hundreds of millions of pounds (
that we annually import, and their signifi- /
canoe 10 our revenu, il * but fair to ask /
that some sensible preacher viii arise ind 1
all Ms hot m