The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-04
A MOST EXPENSIVE TEA.
Cost a CeylOn Planter His EyesiGht to
Accomplish His Dream.
st; Louis Globe-Democrat.

st. Louis Globe-Democrat
Tea. at $40 a pound is a luxury not
many families could afford as q steady bev-
erage," said Harold Weddle at the South
ern Hotel last night. Mr.. Weddle is the
with headquarters in London. Fabulous as
the statement may seem,' he continued
this enormous price was paid for tea in
time ago. But then 1t was wonderful tea,
the like of which had never before been
seen. 1t was tea whose price represented
the sacrifice Of the best part of a human
life. To produce it the light of a pair of
human eyes was extinguished. To under
stand the nature of this wonderful tea it is
necessary to know some of the peculiaritieS
of the tea leaf in its native state. The tip
Of each leaf is differently constituted from
the remainder of the leaf. When the leaf
is dried out it becomes black all but the
very tip, which changes from green to a
beautiful golden color. The golden tip is
almost infinitesimal in size. and usually
loses it's identity in the black mixture that
results from the final process Of tea max
1.-THE high-priced tea I told you of was
made by a Ceylon planter, who cherished an
ambition to place upon the market tea
whose beauty of appearance and richness
of flavor would make him famous. His
name / cannot remember, and probably If
l did, could not pronounce 1t. His idea was
to separate the golden tips from the leaves
and pack them separately. He would trust
no one else with his precious secret, and UNI
dertook the task himself. 1t was tremen-
dous undertaking, for it must be remem-
bered that the tip had to be separated from
each leaf by hand, and it required great
care to prevent some ct the black tea from
finding it's way into the precious golden
mixture. The planter worked day and night
until he had fifty pounds of the golden tips
and was blind as a bat. He sacrificed his
evesight to his ambition. The news of the
fifty pounds of wonderful golden tea got to
London as news of commercial import al
ways does, and there was hot rivalry among
the tea brokers to get possession of the new
mixture. In London tea can be sold 10 brok-
ers only at auction, and the general pubic
he Gale brokers
being admitted. This insures proper Yalua-
ton. as the competition between the brokers
is very close. When this particular tea was
put up ii seemed as If the bidding would
never cease and it did not until the Won
derful product was sold at $40 pound, or
$1,000 for the fifty-pound lot. Considering
Thai the like of it would probably never
again be obtainable, do not think the price
was extravagaDt as was SHOWN Wnen the
tea was retailed. IT was sold to connoiSseurS
in all parts Of the world, and in each in
stance at a handsome profit. The indian
planter received a handsome sum from ms
brokers' though millions would nave Deen
scant consolation to him in his sightless con-
AZ 10 NOT think any of the tea came to
America The highest price paid for tea in
thie country so far as / remember, was $50
a Mound This tea was the product or
CevIon plantation and was peculiar in that
n had been SO cultivated that considerable
norton of each leaf had the golden color,
90 much so that the mixture resulting was
p beautiful black and gold. IL was undoupt-
edIv Of fine flavor, as / can attest, for
was so fortunate as to taste some of it.
HmericanS are becoming greater tea drink
ers every year but the Irish are still the
heaviest tea consumers in the world
II have heard much and read much re-
Comfy o. the tea-smoking fad. 1t will never
take in America. Americans. especially
women. do not affect fads of this charac-
ter They like a sort OF orthodoxy IN their
dissipation. If they smoke, they like to
smoke something that was made to smoke.
AZ a matter OF fact. tea has none of the
Qualities good or bad. of tobacco in a pipe
or cigarette AS a tea man / might be ex-
pected TO foster the tea-smoking fad. but
I am satisfied to conduct my business along
the legitimate lines rather than teaching
people something they Will not be thankful
for having been taught.