The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-10-16
TEA TASTING AS
AN OCCUPATION
PROFESSION THAT IS NOT OVER
CROWDED-SMELLING AN M
PORTANT BRANCH OF BUSINESS

The lot of the tea-taster is far from
a happy one. For although his pro-
fession is one of the very few which
are not overcrowded, and he is, in con-
sequence, able to command a good sal
airy, the work of deciding the quality
of tea by tasting has many drawbacks,
not the least of which is that after a
time is utterly destroys the nerves and
skaters the digestive organs.
And yet there are many gentlemen
who pursue this remarkable avocation,
both in London and the provinces. 1t
is in and about MinCing Lane, where
London tea merchants abound and
flourish that tea-tasters are to be
found in the greatest numbers, and
these men often sample no fewer than
between 800 and 400 cups of tea during
the course of a day.
This of course, necessitates the drink
ing of an enormous quantity. For even
if they only take the smallest spoonful
of liquid from each cup, the number of
spoonfuls is so great that were they
placed together for even one day they
would form cup of tea which few peo-
pie would care to drink. And as the
condition of the digestive organs and
nerves is never improved even when tea
is taken in small quantities, the effect
on the constitution through taking three
or four hundred spoonfuls a day is par
ticularly disastrous.
1t often happens that a tea-taster at
the end of a days work has to indulge
| in a cOpious fit of weeping brought
about by the overwrOught state of his
nerves. The injury to the system,
however, is by no means the only draw
back to the work of the tea faster. He
has to pay the strictest attention to his
mode of living. Certain articles of
food and particular drinks have to be
avoided, while above all he must never
smoke more than one mild cigar or pipe
of tobacco in twenty-fOur hours, and
that always at night time.
But, in spite of all this, men who find
that they possess the necessary quail
ties rarely hesitate to become tea
| tasters, the handsome salaries which
are paid no doubt being a great induce
ment to many 1t is not every man,
however, who can earn his living as It
tea-tasters. In the first place, the tea
faster like the poet, is born, not made;
for it is practically impossible to ac-
| quire the delicacy of taste and smell
! which is necessary for the work. Tea
| tasting is talent which comes with
| birth and cannot be learned And not
only must tea-taster possess an eX-
| tremely susceptible palate, but his
| sense of smell must also be particular
| ly keen.
Smelling in fact, plays almost as i'm
pOrtant part in the work as tasting.
BY simply handling and applying to his
nOstril a pinch of tea from a dozen
! separate chests an expert can often tell
the quality of each and the price it is
worth. And when it is mentioned that
! tea can be bought in Mincing Lane a I
| from 3lId to rs per pound, it will readily
be understood that it requires no little
| qskill in order to determine the various
| qualities.
| Tasting, however is resorted to in
! order to make quite sure A small guam
| tity will be taken from, say, a dozen
| packages of tea, and after each sam
| pie has been carefully weighed win he
! placed in a tiny teapot. When thc
boiling water has been poured in, the
tea has to stand for exactly six min
uteS-Which is the proper time it should
| be allowed to brew. 1t is then poured
! into cups and milk added, but no sugar.
Taking a peculiarly-sha silver
| shaped spoon, the faster when the tea
is sufficiently cool, will proceed to taste
| each cupful, and each packet from
! which the sample has been taken will
! be marked according to the judgement
| pronounced Sometimes the faster has
J to take two or three sDOOnSful from
! each cup in order to make quite sure
| that his judgement is not at fault And
/ even then it is sometimes considered
necessary to have his opinion confirm
! ed by one or two other experts. A tea
| faster, however, is seldom at fault and
! some of them are so skllful that, by
merely tasting a sample of tea in this
manner, they can Immediately ten
where and when it was grown as wen
as it's value.
The tea leaves, too. are often taken
from the pots and duly examined For
although it is not considered an in
fallible test, yet good tea is often de-
termined by the rich brown color of its
infused leaves. 1t is also a peculiar
fact that a faster can often tell from
the SAFE and shape of a broken tea-leaf
the size of the original perfect leaf, and
in that way come to IA decision re-
garding the quality of the blend