St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-04
HIGH-PRIcED TEA.
London AristOcrats Drink 1t Though
1t Costs $143 q Pound.

Buffalo Courier.
Did you ever wonder what's the
price OF the most expensive tea ever
sold. There's little doubt that the
most costly tea party ever given was q
certain little social affair In Boston
harbor matter of 12o years ago. but
those imitation Indians would have
been even better pleased had the tea
tossed to the waves off Boston been
worth as much as some which was
sold recently In England And tea in
the last half of the eighteenth century
didn't retail at 81 a pound, by a good
deal.
One hundred and forty-three dollars
a pound Is what Ceylon- tea of GER
tain kind brought at auction in London
some time ago. This is stated on the
authority of j. III. Grairo,of the Ceylon
Importing company. who Is at the
Tiff house. To be sure, Mr.. Gradro
says the planters of Ceylon were as
much surprised as you or 1 or the
next person at such a fabulous price.
Owing to certain peculiarities a pound
of that tea probably represents ap-
proximately s143 worth Of labor, but
the figure 1t fetched is so extraordi-
solutely no commercial value what
ever. This is particularly 30 because
this tea has no appreciably finer flavor.
1t is named the golden tips. The
leaves when only twenty four hours
old are picked from the top of tea
bushes. They are very small. not half
as big as your finger nail. and extra
expert pickers are required to gather
them. 1t can be imagined that 900 or
400 people on the plantation must pick
over several acres of bushes to get
enough green one-day-old leaves to
make a pound of tea when dried. Cey-
| lon teas, by the way. are dried by ma
chinery, and not manipulated by hand.
as are the products Of China and Ja-
pan. Ordinary tea is from leaves
which are ten days old and conse-
quently larger. Mr.. Grairo Is in po-
sition to speak by the card as to how
TO make tea, and here Is what he says:
Take a teaspoonful of tea and put
it in teapot If you want one cup OF
the beverage pour on one cup of boil
ing water and let 1t stand one minute.
Stand where? Well, not on the stove
at all. In fact, lest the temptation be
too great, better keep the teapot out
OF the kitchen. This proportion will
make ordinarily strong tea. For two
cups let 1t stand two minutes, and
three cups three minutes. But don't
allow 1t to stand more than five min
utes. If one cup Is wanted triple
strength the same amount of tea, a
teaspoonful, 1t will do by letting II
stand three minutes. Additional guam
tity is obtained by putting in more
tea. OF course there are plenty OF
housewives who will think they can
improve on this way Of making tea,
but this is the method Of man who
knows.
Without looking at the geography
you studied years ago. can you tell
where Ceylon is? The triangle of In
dia doubtless is fairly well fixed I'm
your memory. Well, Ceylon is an ISL
and just south of India-oR the apex
of the triangle It's people are Hindos
Of the great Aryan family. Many are
Buddhists, and some, like Mr. Grairo,
are Theosophists. There are several
reasons why tea grown In Ceylon Is
superior to others-that, let us say,
which some American planters have
tried to raise. Ceylon Is surrounded by
the Indian ocean, and the tea planta-
tons are seventy-five or eighty miles
inland, so the bushes are not affected
by the sea breeze. Then the planta-
tons are from 5000 to 5000 feet above
the sea level, and the higher the aIti-
tude the less the quantity, but the bet
ter the quality The temperature is As
to 65 degrees all the year round. The
country seldom is without rain, and
this Is conducive to the growth of
fresh leaves which are picked only
when tender. Picking goes on all the
year round. Then, too. the soil is very
rich. These are some of the reasons
why the Ceylon tea is a superior ar
ticle