Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-11-28
TEA TESTING.
FIXING THE VALUES OF VARI.
Gus KINDS OF TEA.
Marvellous Feats of the Senses-Feat-
ures of a Vocation That Enjoins
Abstemiousness While it
Skaters the Nerves.

many sections of China and Japan. One
half of the annual importations is Japan |
tea; the remaining moiety is distributed /
among the green teas, Formosos, Amoys,
Foo Chows and Congous; IA, 900 900 !
pounds is green teas, $4,000, 900 For
nosa, 1000, 900 Annoy, 5000, 900 Foo
Chow and the remaining 100000
Congou.
Each invoice Of these teas contains
large number of different lines or grades.
For instance, there are nine districts from
which green teas are imported. Each
invoice of green tea contains from ten to
sixteen lines or grades, and each invoice
of Japan, Foo Chow or Formosa from
eight to ten grades.
Each one of these grades of tea when
imported into the city Of New York, and
before being offered for sale by the
wholesale merchant to the retailer, has
to be tested and price fixed upon it by
IN expert tea tester.
The tea tester tests this tea and fixes
hhe price upon it through his finely
cultivated sense Of taste or smell.
THE largest importing houses Of the
itty employ tea testers of their own. The
lslher houses haze their tea tested by a
ea broker, whose sole business is in
lesHing and fixing a price upon the deli
Gatte and finely favored beverage Of
China and Japan.
he tea testers themselves, in the ma
i0rity of instances, are very peculiar
class Of citizens. 1t has been said by
person familiar with the requirements
and habits Of q tea tester that ne is max
inc his living by committing slow sui
eide. It is a we'll recognized fact that
the excessive and constant drinking Of
tea is as dangerous to the physical sys-
tenn as the excessive use Of alcohol, and
those who ought to know assert that the
majority of the men engaged in this
method OF earning livelihood become
so addicted to the stimulation produced
by the drinking Of tea that they are so
much slaves to the habit as is the French
man to his atsiuthc or the Chinese 10 his
opium.
The Office of a tea broker or tea
tester is very curious looking place.
If one should be mistaken, not knowing
anything about the manner in which
teas are tested, drift into one Of these
places, be would hardly know what to
think of the scene that presented itself
to his eyes.
To go into one Of the large buildings
in the lower part of Wall street and
there TO find the men sitting half dream
lily, at revolving liable, slipping alter
nately from forty of fifty different cups,
as with monotOnous aud regular move
ment of the hand he revolves the table,
would indeed be a surprise to an aver
age ard unsuspecting citizen. The Of
fees of these tea testers are in the main
located on the second or third stories Of
the buildings in the locality mentioned.
A characteristic specimen is located at
No. 142 Pearl street. This one, how
ever, happens to be in the basement of
the building. Descending a fight of
four steps you open glass door leading
into the front or testing Office. The Of
fee consists of suite of two rooms.
One is the testing room, the other the
storage room.
A small CRATE fire burns in fireplace,
and beside this is a small gas stove which
is used for the purpose of boiling the
water with which tea is drawn. The
room in which the testing is done is kept
at an average heat. If it gets too hot or
too cold the atmosphere has its effect
upon the delicate palate of the man who
spends his mornings slipping, tasting and
determining the value of grade of tea
A number of other rules are in force in
these tea testing rooms. They differ,
however, according to the peculiar ner-
vous temperament or habits of the man
who does the tea testing, One tea tester,
with whom came in contact during my
excursion through the district, will not
allow even an orange or lemon to be
cut in his testing room during the hours
in which he is to be engaged in his work.
But few of them will allow any one to
smoke a cigar in their room, and none
will allow the smoking of cigarettes.
Besides the fireplace and gas stove
mentioned above. there are to be found
in the offices which l am describing two
revolving tables about three feet in di-
ameter. These tables are made of hard
wood, and a ledge about six inches in
breadth is cut around the edge for the
purpose Of holding the teacups. In the
centre of one of these tables is to be
found a small pair OF brass scales, such as
you will see in an apothecary's shop.
These scales are used for weighing out
the tea, preparatory to its being drawn
or stepped in the testing cups. Each Of
these tables has room for from forty to
fifty testing cups, aud these are ranged in
regular order above the ledge cut at the
J edge of the table. The cup is a thin por-
celain one. about the size OF an average