The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-31
DRINK IMPURE TEA
EASY MARKS FOR UNSCRU-
PULOUS CHINESE
NATIVES FIGHT SHY OF IT
DOctOred Product Prepared by Fill.
thy HethOds Finds Ready Market
Here-Barred From 9th
er Countries.

I. L. Hauser, tea merchant from India.
was in st. Paul yesterday on his way to
Chicago where his company has offices.
Mr.. Hauser is, perhaps the dean Of the
India tea business in this country, having
handled this article in the Orient and the
United States for the past thirty-two
years. He says that it is a shame that
the government allows the Chinese to
ship in the quality Of tea they do as it
IS so vile that not even the meanest coolie
would stOop to drink it. He says that this
sort of tea is barred out of every other
country but the United States.
In speaking to T G 0 b e yesterday
Mr.. Hauser said: There is a great lack
OF knowledge concerning tea in the United
States, and when one stops to consider
the enormous quantity that is consumed
here annually, this state Of affairs ap-
pears strange. I have met many people
who thought it was sort of a grass that
could be cut with a reaper. and some who
thought it was soWed every year like
they sow wheat Another falIacy that
find common is that all tea comes from
CHINA. There was a time when So per cent
of the tea consumed in England was
grown in the Chinese empire, but since
the Introduction Of modern machinery
and methods in India, this condition has
been reversed and the English now get
nearly all their tea from India
''The tea merchants and planters of
India are strictly up to the times They
have the finest machines for whitening,
rolling, drying, sitting and packing so
that the only part of tea culture that re
quires the work of the hands is the pick
ing. This will never be superseded by
machinery, as it is necessary to use some
judgment in the selection of the leaves
to be plucked. Another reason is that
care has to be taken that the picking Of
the leaf will not injure the delicate stock
or stem Of the tree
Crude Methods in China.
I'm China and Japan. even to this day.
the methods of tea culture are crude and
most uncleanly. All the work is done
by hand and the rest is a matter of guess
work. as such thing as a thermometer is
unknown there. Prior to the year 1871,
this was practically true of India, but in
that year occurred the first great tea sale
IN Calcutta and since that time the ad-
vance of modern ideas and machinery
mas been rapid, and of course, the TWEEN
tIeth century Improvements have brought
forth tea far superior to that produced by
the time-worn customs of China and
Japan
I'm India, not including Ceylon. there
are 3l6,732 acres of land given over to the
growing Of tea. and to cultivate this it
requires 634,616 laborers and a capital of
over SlOOOC0,CO1 Last year the production
OF tea in India amounted to 1850 613 922
pounds which will give some idea as to
the vastness of this industry.
1T should always be borne in mind
that black and green tea are culled from
the same tree. Pure green tea can be
made in few moments by rolling the
leaves on board in the hot sun, or in
pan over the fire This tea is not fit TO
drink, no more than green plums are fit to
orc ta,
manner without undergoing a curing pro-
cess. This is pure green tea, green in
color and in substance, but it is not the
green tea that is sent to this country by
Chinese tea merchants. AS is well known
the Chinaman is the one to make the
most out of anything. They even go so
far as to save their tea grounds These
they dlscolor by sleeping with prussan
blue, copperas, indigo, gypsum dutch
pink, soapstOne or some other equally in
furious coloring matter. They then ship
this poisonous stuff to the United States,
which is the only country that will allow
1t to be imported, and no people but
Americans drink 1t. No colored tea should
be admitted into the United States. and
1t Is disgrace to the nation that the
chinese should be allowed to swindle and
poison the people. No Chinaman would
even taste the rubbish he sends to this
country. There is no necessity for color
ing tea, except for fraudulent purposes,
since the color of pure green tea is that
of grass that has been cut and quickly
dried. Japan tea is green in substance,
although not all of it is colored.
How Black Tea Is Made.
''Black tea is made by whitening the
leaves in machine. The withered leaves
are placed in shallow baskets in room
where the temperature is from 10 to 100
degrees. When the leaves nave become
properly cured. fermented or oxidized.
they are thrown into a machine with
heated rollers, from which they come out
pure black tea
The price of tea depends upon the
leaves. The three top leaves are called
tips, the next three pekoe, and the three
lower ones souchong. Golden pekoe is
made by mixing the tips with the pekoe
and pekoe sOuchong is the mixture of
these leaves. Tea made from the tiny
center tip only a few hours old would be
worth $50 a pound on account of it's deli
cacy, but it is better to mix this with the
lower leaves to ha - body and strength
The mixture makes-a finer drink than
either alone. The lower or souchong
leaves retail at 80 to 50 cents pound,
pekoe souchong from 50 to IS cents, orange
pekoe from 70 to $1.25 and golden pekoe up
to S.
My advice to tea drinkers who like
good tea, combining strength and flavor
would be to get tea that costs from 81. %