Evening star., 1895-03-23

Of tea, and 1t will be surprising to many
of them to know that there is tea in China
which Is worth SO a pound, and l have
heard of tea which costs more than 500
a pound.
Perhaps the most costly tea ever brought
to this country was some Indian tea which
was presented to Benjamin Harrison while
he was President of the United States. 1t
came from a great tea company in Cey-
lon. and it was presented in a tea caddy
made OF an elephants foot, which had
been followed out into beautiful box.
This contained several pounds of tea
of a very choice variety. and in the CEN
ter of the box there was u little casket
containing handful or so of tea. which
haps, he..costliest tea in existence. The
tea outside of this was delicious, but the
$50 tea was drink for the gods Presi-
dent Harrison showed the tea to his
friends, and now and then had drawing
made for those who were closest to him.
One day western Senator who knew as
much about tea as a cow does about choc-
olate caramels spent an evening Mt the
White House. During his stay President
Harrison spoke of this wonderful tea and
said he would give him bit of it, sup
posing, of course, the-man would under
stand that he would have a drawing made
and they would sip it together. He sent
one of the servants for the precious cask-
ct of one hundred andvfifty dollar tea and
handed it over to the Senator to examine.
The Senator took it and looked at it, and
President, ard will take it home to the
madam He thereupon put the box in
his pocket. One of the Presidents official
family. VINO was present at the time. told
me of the incident, and 1 asked him as to
what the President did.
'What could he do?" was the reply. "He
couldn't ask the man to give it back with
out offending him. and the result was that
he carried away the box, which was worth
more than its weight in gold. and which
1 venture was no more appreciated by the
people who got it than the poorest Of the
japanese variety"
What Good Tea Is.
The Chinese tea which we get for dol
lar pound brings about twenty-five cents
a pound in China. and what the Chinese
call good tea Is worth at least dollar
pound wholesale in China, and it would
bring in the United States two dollars
pound. Tea which costs ten dollars
pound is by no means uncommon among
rich Cinnamon, and there are some Chi
nese nabobs who serve up fifty dollar tea
to their guests. The man who knows moth
ing of tea. but thinks he knows good
deal, wants the liquor to be dark colored
and considers this sign of strength. The
best Chinese tea Is often as clear as crys-
tai, and the color of good tea should be
very light yellow. hardly -as dark as light
amber. The first leaves of the tea plant
are the tenderest and the first picking, of
course, brings the most money We use
every year about eleven million dollars
worth of Chinese tea, and we are fast be-
coming big consumers of Ceylon and In
dian tea. 1 have Travelled through the
tea district of the Himalaya mountains,
and have tasted the tea which grows On
the border of Thibet. This is said to be
the natural home of the tea plant. and 1t
Is claimed that the tea was taken from
here TO China and there grown. The En-
glish now have vast tea plantations in In
da and these are increasing every year.
The Chinese do not think that milk nor
sugar should be used with tea. Boiling