The Opelousas courier., 1894-12-01
MONEY IN SAMPLING TEA.
Enormous Sums Paid to the Few Tea Tas
crs of the United States.

Enormous Sums Paid to the Few Tea Tast-
crs ofsthe United States.
A tall, slim man, with a black mus.
tache, dark eyes and closely cropped
black hair, registered at the California
hotel a few days ago, and has since
been going and coming in a nervous
sort of way. He registered as g. c.
Smyth, of New York. He seemed a
man who had important business on
hand, but what it was no one knew.
He was dining in the cafe at the hotel,
and it was noticed that he drank plen.
tifully of the wine, though not SO much
as to make the effect noticeable.
Il do this" he said, Ito get my
nerves into proper condition. The fact
is | am a tea faster, and this profession
is very hard on me physically. have
been following it for several years.
Yes, you may know it is an important
business, since there are only ten tea
tasters in the United States. We arc
engaged both by large merchants OF
tea brokers, and by the government. I
have visited this city several times TO
taste teas and have often visited Van.
couver for that purpose.
Since the Canadian Pacific railroad
was completed. and a line of steamers
established from the Orient, immense
cargoes of tea have been going there
from China, Japan and other countries.
1t has been my business to examine and
taste various samples from these car
goes. / have also visited Ceylon and
nearly all of the tea-growing countries
of the Orient to observe the mode OF
putting up the tea.
1T is astonishing the way they man
age to adulterate it over there. The
packers are SO skillful that they slip in
off under good brands. This makes
the merchants who afterward handle
complain. Packages of tea of a certain
brand will be found all that could be
desired, while other packages bearing
the same brand and in the same cargo
will be highly adulterated.
"As this tea is very costly there is
need of experts to examine it. They
must be good ones, for everything de-
ponds for the time being on their judg-
ment. A faster can only taste a few
hours at a time, when he is weakened
and has to take a rest. Besides this,
when he begins a job of tasting he
must take special pains to get himself
in shape for it. l vas about six weeks
getting myself ready for examining
some cargoes in the warehouses here
for the government.
Before l began / did not taste in
toxicants in any form and did not even
smoke. At the same time l was care
full not to eat strong peppers or spices,
or in fact anything that could distort
the taste. One must be in as perfect
condition in order to properly Judge of
the teas he tastes as a horse is when
prepared for the Derby or Corbett or
jackson when about to begin a fight
for the championship. He must be at
his best and must feel that he is.
'This afternoon in six hours I made
two thousand nine hundred dollars
tasting tea, SO you see from this how
valuable the time of a t~ea-taster is. and
how careful he must be of his condition.
On each of the two Or three previous
days | made almost as much. The best
~tea-tasters of the country make enor-
nous sums, considering the time en-
ployed; ten thousand dollars a year is
a low sum, and oftentimes from twenty
thousand to thirty thousand dollars is
made, and e more. know a man
in the business who made fifty thou.
sand dollars. 1t all depends on his
standing, the number of times he is
called as a faster and what he can en-
dure.
I'm my case this time the govern
ment has sent me to examine teas in
order to collect certain statistics about
the authorizations. You know there is
now a very large number of men col
lecting statistics throughout this
country and Europe in regard to labor,
the costs of various products and other
things. 1t has lately desired to learn
all it can about the adulteration OF
foods and drink, and this is why have
been engaged here.
Il am substantially through with
my t%ea-tasting in San Francisco for
the present, and this is why I have
been drinking wine, which, as I said,
is the best restorative for the weakness
after a long strain at tasting San
francisco Examiner.