Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-04-27
AMERICAN TEA.
ct MAY BE COSTLY, BUT THE PROD
UcT IS CERTAINLY GOOD.

Faith In Their Own Ability TO Produce
Commodity That Equals If 1t Does Not
surpass China Tea.
There is no subject touching which the
eea trade of New York is more skeptical
than the possibility Of making tea culture
profitable industry ir the United States.
The men who sit in dingy little down town
offices, with small brass teakettles about
them and ugly little teacups stored in cup
boards that would drive any neat house
wife into mysteries, smile whenever Amer
lean teE Is usntioncd The skepticism Of
the tea ,.e'er- results partly from the fact
that they know so much, partly from the
fact that they know so little. The litera-
ture of tea culture is "a library in itself. To
know the subject is to spend years in
study
There are men down in the tea trade who
can appraise to a mill the value of a given
specimen Of tea, but who use the very names
of teas without a knowledge Of their sig
nifcance Tea, before its arrival in mar
ket, is 10 the average dealer an oriental
mystery Those who read books on the
subject find them fun Of contradictions.
Some dealers fatty declare their belief that
travellers who write upon tea culture in
China have never reached the interior Of
the country As a matter of fact, different
writers upon Chinese tea culture are of ne
cessity contradictory, because they happen
to have seen the operations of different dis
tricts. There are many ways of cultivat-
ing tea in China, as there are many of pre-
pairing It for market. Tea bricks, for ex-
ample, which are sold by the million pounds
all over central Asia, never appear in the
trade of the United States.
Should the average tea dealer see a close
packed dark green brick, hard on the sur
face and marked in gold with Chinese char
acters, he would scarcely recognize it as tea
The dealers fad that the oriental plays
strange tricks with this market When
one sort Of tea has been drug on the mar
ket, next season the same tea appears I'M
der different name. Young Tyson and
Gunpowder are the same tea differently
rolled, and there nre dozen devices by
which the Celestial takes advantage Of the
occidental world.
In the face Of all the current skeptcism
as TO American tea, a south Carolinian
who has l0acre tea garden. recently sent
up some Of his own product 10 be appraised
by a firm OF New York tea dealers, He sent
along also a tea plant, which has been ex-
hibited in "a dealers window. The firm to
whom the sample had been confided tasted,
smeiled and drew tie t,s, aud after mature
deliberation wrote 1 the cyperimenter that
all the tests Indicated that his tea was
worth % cents "a pound The grower wrote
back 20 thank The dealer and 10 express
Satisfaction tlat OBS sample could be ap
praised ~ such q rate
All tins make uo great impression upon
the skel -1c-sll 81! t-- ga trade Tea that
wholesal-s % - 1ani~ "a pound should
fetch about 81 c-1'- pound 90 retail 4
fair average imported tea, such a. is con
sumed by persons ~ moderate means de
manding articles 10 GOOD quality, whole
sales at about - cIi- pound. Above
and below that prices have VIDE range
Tea dust from China HhCle-ales in this
market az nom iu ll ctlt- % pound. The
best % u o. lruuh ly -le poor. who pay
for il - cents O. pound retail The worst
is bought by druggists aud by dealers in
whisky. -Alse a. 81 rklld suspicion ia
the tea trade tlli -0oj deal Of cheap tea
dust gOes into -lL4- coa-ed pills Of one
kind or another, ll place oi quiuine. for ex-
ample. u j. vel known that % great deal
Of tea dust IS use! tl color new whisky and
give il an appearance of age.
After the tea dust come various cheap
grades Of Japan. C1u1ou. Young Hyson
and Annoy. wholc-aling at II or l3 cents n
pound. Then there are Other Young Hy-
sons and Japaus and Formo-a teas whole
sailing at ~ or - cents per pound. The
Ceylon teas range from a to 30 cents whole
sale. with frncy qualities as high as ~
cents a pound. some OF the fancy Young
Hysons and Formo.as wholesale at from ~
TO 50 cents, and "a Chicago firm has been re-
failing fancy brands a. high a s. a pound.
Dealers down town smile at such prices as
this last and say that there is reallyn bet
ter tea in this market than some that NAV
be retailed as 81 "a pound. As a matter OF
fact, the finest China teas do not leave the
county and probably would not endure
transportation
The down town skeptics say that Amer
lean tea must compete, il at all. with grades
of imported tea somewhat below medium
quality. They believe chat the thing can
not be done. Climate and the cost of labor