The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-03-03
TEA TiSTERy EKACING LIVING.
They Must Not Smoke Nor Indulge In Alec
holic Beverages, Lest They Lose
Their Cunning.

a spoon into IL and conveys the liquid
TO his mouth
The favor of Chinese teas varies
with the provinces in which they have
been raised The constituents OF the
soil change the taste OF the tea. The
Chinese teas are graded By favor in
/ the following order. Moyune, Tenkai
/ Fychow. Hoochov, ana Ping SueF
Then there are the blends or com
pounds which are called Sarroun and
Shanghai packed The name gun
powder applied TO tea simply means
that the leaves are rolled up in lit
tie balls. so that the prepared tea
has the appearance of black granu-
lated gunpowder. In the young Tyson
teas the leaves are rolled the long
way.
The so-caIled English breakfast tea
bears a name of New York origia.
II CHANGED that at one time a guam
tity OF tea fermented before IL was
cured The grower was about 20
throw IL away when a thrifty associ-
ate suggested to him that he might
as well dry H. The fermented leaves
were dried and shipped to England.
where the new tea made an immense
success, and orders were sent to the
growers for the delicious new prod
uct-
The Chinese soon discovered rapid
and economical methods Of ferrlen.ing
tea for the English market The tea
was in those days, however, called
Congow. II remained for a Park Row
restaurant keeper to give il its final
christening.
He hung out a sign that English
Breakfast Tea" was on sale. The pub
lie liked the spoiled tea from China by
the way of England. and the popularity
OF the brand grew. II you have ever
ordered oysters in this city under the
name of New York counts" or have
attempted to purchase Frankfurters in
Frankfort, you will understand how it
was that for years England did not rec
ognize its matutinal drink by its Amer
lean name.
Very little of the tea which the ex-
aminer takes into his mouth is swal
lowed. The Tea faster expels all that
he can of il as soon as his sense has
reached verdict. Still, small guam
THY finds its way to the stomach. The
splitting out of the liquid takes from
the mouth a certain amount of saliva
and the result is an impaired digestion.
The continual absorption of tea has
bad effect upon the kidneys. II is no
unusual thing for tea tasters TO stop
work for time in order TO give their
internal organs chance to get back
TO their normal state.
EnQU Of pxnarf u-hn made his
trade the excuse for occasional lapses
into intoxication. He said that he need
ed the change.
The tea faster, as a general thing,
seldom looks upon the wine when it
is red, for his taste is something he
must keep from being viIIate |. A taste
of the dark brown variety so feelingly
described by Eugene Field is not to be
desired as a beginning for a days
work in Front street. The man who
must distinguish between the delicate
flavor of teas never chews tobacco,
and very few of them smoke. Cigars
are seldom seen in the Offices of tea
importers.
Few occupations are better paid
tnan that of the tea faster. There are
in this city twenty in the calling The
highest salary is $4,000 a year, while
$4,000 is not considered to be more
than ordinary compensation. Some of
the tea merchants save the salary of
an expert by themselves passing upon
the quality of all teas which they ham
die.
In large houses the skill of the tea
faster turns the scale in large trans
actions. Cargoes are bought and sold
upon his judgment. The tasting of a
single spoonful of tea may make a
difference of several hundred dollars
in the valuation of a consignment. For
this reason the importers wish. first
of all. absolute honesty in tneir advis-
ers. II would be possible for an I'M
principlod man to get much more
than salary by passing favorably upon
teas OF inferior quality. John B.
Brown, tea merchant, said the other
day that when tea house had abso-
lutte faith in the faster he could draw
a salary which would seem very large
TO men in other trades.
Many stories have been told about
the short lives OF the tasters of tea.
yet with ordinary care and with peri
DDS Of rest these men live as long as
those engaged in most other occupa-
tons.