Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-06-02
CERTIFIED TEA"
a COSTLY ARTICLE FOIrSn p
NEW YORK's CHINATOWN
Picturesque Fashion In which I,
Comes From characteristics
Manner OF Brewing
the Leaf.

amount Of trade they do cannot hs
measured by their appearance eitbe,
outside or inside. The business i.
good, for there are always several
clerks busily employed, although III.
room where the shop and goods are !.
rarely over fifteen feet square. Tn
fashionable speciality which these shop.
have now is tea of a kind and prepared
in a way that cannot be got at any
grocery store or any of the fancy IN.
town shops.
This tea comes in the original Chinese
boxes. They are made of straw boards
with a cover of Goth of brilliant coIors
and Chinese characters woven in silk
There is also lid with a fastening
which serves for lady's work boz
! when the tea Is out, or a glass cover
4 which enables one to see the Chimes
certificates of excellence on the slip Of
paper displayed like trade mark and
advertisement under the glass. Every
box OF this tea has its certificate. The
makers have not yet got to cultivatins
an English trade sufficient to have
their certificates printed in English
but any English-speaking ChinamAp
can translate the Chinese certificate
which extols the virtues, excellence
and choice selection of the tea.
When the lid il opened and the GER
tificate slip, which is about the size of
the top of the box, is taken out there
are several wrappings Of thin brown
paper over the tea When these wrap.
pings are removed the tea appears
wrapped up in small bundles with pure
silk gsudy colored threads The tea
is not powdered or broken, as Is the
tea known to the American grocery
store, but every leaf is dried aud twist.
ed up separately. and these separate
leaves are put in bundles of twenty-hv
or thirty. The tea looks like bundle
of thin twigs, and one does not See the
perfect leaf until it has been steamed,
when the twigs unfold into the tea
leaves about the size, though hardly
the shape, of wintergreen leaf in full
growth.
This tea requires no strsiner or tea
ball OF any kind There is no tea dust
or broken tea or tea chips. Every leaf
is a whole, perfect leaf and twisted be.
fore it was entirely dry, so that it re.
tains its shape. The threads which
bind the leaves together are real silk.
Every little bundle is separate A box
weie hing about half pound holds
forty or fifty of these bundles arranged
in the boxes like cigars, the length OF
the bundle being crosswise in the box.
The certificate shows where it was
grown, the firm that put it up and the
grade and quality. The box costs from
forty cents to dollar and quarter,
according to its size. At that price it
is equivalent to tea at dollar and q
half to two dollars Il pound This is
much higher i'll price than the tea
ordinarily sold by any grocery store,
but it is a different tea, such Us al
American usually never sees.
Besides this the Cinnamon keep the
ordinary, cheaper grades of tea, which
they sell ntabout the same price charged
by the grocery stores They have even
cheaper teas, put up in cheap yellow
paper packages, which sell for five and
ten cents. This is the broken tea and
tea dust, which does not enter at all
into the expensive boxes.
The way the Cinnamon make their
tea may be instructive to many Amer.
can housewives. One of the silk.
wrapped bundles is good for three cups,
not that more cups could not be made
ont of it, but the Cinnamon say that
when they have got three cups all the
tea is good for then is to be dried up
and sold to Americans The three cups
are not made at the same time by put.
ting the tea in teapot, but every cup
is made separately.
First the water is heated to boiling
point and the cups are arranged on the
table. The hot water is poured into
cup to make it thoroughly warm and
then, when the cup is heated, the silk
threads are unwrapped from the hun
die, about the size of short stubbed
cigar, isput in the tea cup. The heated
water is poured on the tea and another
cup is put on top of the one cup in
order to keep the steam and flavor
from the tea from escaping This first
cup stands about minute and half
or two minutes when by the dex,erous
manipulation OF the top cup the tea IS
strained ont into another cup already
heated. AS there is no tea dust or tea
chips, there il no necessity for
strainer, and the pure light brown tea
il readily poured off. THERE'S knack
In using this upper cup for a strainer
which it takes an American some time
to acquire. At the first trial the
American is more likely to upset all
the tea on the table.
With these tea leaves now increased
i'll volume until they fill the cup, the
second cup of tea is made in like man
ner, only that it stands twice as long.
BY like process third cup is made
only the tea in the third cup stands sixo
seven minutes longer. By this time all
the best qualities of the tea leaves are
extracted. and they are thrown away
or dried and broken up to be used IN
mixing with cheaper tea.
The second cup is supposed to be the
best. The first drawing takes the edge
off the tea, the second gets its full
favor and the third extracts what Is
let BY this time the tea leaves have
fully expanded, and the little things
which looked like twigs have developed
into the full tea leaf of full size, and
with pale green color. The fibres oil
the leaves plainly show.
With this tea no sugar or cream or
TN! ching else is taken. If the Chlns
man wants sweetening with his tea he
Crinks special Chinese rice liqueuF,
Y oh ~ afrnnnlu nnhnhnlic and almost