Evening star., 1915-05-16
Precautions Safeguard C0untrys Tea Drinkers

The supervising examiner may make
denomination in his own judgment.
An importer whose tea has been
jected has the right of appeal to the
board of tea experts, the judgment OF
which body is final The rigidity and
the uniformity of the work of the ex-
aminers is indicated by the fact that
in the great majority OF cases the judg-
ment of the examiner is upheld"
Mr.. Mitchell finds that in the general
support given by the trade to the de-
partment's efforts to protect the con-
sumers of tea there is also coming A
tendency in America to reverse tra-
ditional rules and to buy more and
more on quality and less and less on
style and appearance. In other words.
dealers and consumers are becoming
better educated as to what is what
in tea.
And also he detects a growing better
understanding of how to make tea
among Americans generally. although
he sadly admits that most tea brewed
in this country is still below par
The formula for the proper brewing
of tea. printed at the head of this artl-
Gle, was devised by Mr.. Mitchell when
he was with the Department of Asrl-
culture, and was the result OF some
500 or 500 laboratory tests. Knowing
that what was desired in a brew OF
tea was a maximum of caffeine and
minimum of tannin, he set out to de-
termine how best to obtain that result.
tried at every possible variation &c
time.
The sleeping process, described. at
three minutes and then decantlnS VAS
found to bring best results After
standing three minutes the tannln be-
gins to draw out in excessive quanti-
ties. thus neutralizing the caffeine ana
destroying the very quality desired
Equally, tea drawn off in less than
three minutes after the boiling water
has been poured over the leaves is
found not to have extracted the best
that is in the leaves.
To the expert tea faster an excess of
even in minute quantities, -
detected in the astrngent character of
the liquid. He needs no chemical APP
paratus such as was used in the eN-
tremely exact tests that Mr.. Mitchell
made in the Department of Agriculture
laboratory. Hence. the tasters. wheth-
er in the trade in the service of
Uncle Sam as examiners. place their
large dependence on the cup test.
That test. too, by the way, is infalli
BILE also in bringing out inferiorities in
the leaf. From the appearance of the
n1uSed leaVeS, tne expert can lHSldih-
ly tell if mixed with high quality
leaves the tough and unwholesome
leaves from the lower parts of the tea
plant.
rs tea culture possible in the United
States?' is another question put to Mr..
Mitchell. Undoubtedly" he replied.
"as DIR. Shepherd is showing in South
Carolina. He is producing about $4,000
pounds a year. His plantation is the
only one in the country, save for
small one that is in operation as an eN-
hibit at the San Diego exposition. Even
with the higher labor charge in this
tea culture can be made sue
cess if carried on in gardens of no less
than 200 acres in extent. But this en-
tails the substitution of machinery for
hand labor in some processes.
1t might be added that Mr.. Mitchell
himself is the inventor of a tea prun
ing machine. but ii is in use only in
this country, since hand labor is
cheap in the chief tea-producing coun-
tries and in those countries the fields
are located on hillsides. where ii would
be impossible TO use machines of this
kind. sASAMlN BROWN.