When this process is completed, every nerve is strained to put the tea into the market quickly, "and in the best possible condition; for, although it is said that the Chinese do not drink it until it is a year old, the value of new tea is superior to that of old; and the longer the duration of a voyage in which a great mass of tea is packed up in a closed hold, the greater the probability that the process of fermentation will be set up. Hence has arisen the great strife to bring the first cargo of the season to England, and the fastest and most skilfully commanded ships are engaged in the trade, both for the profit and honour of success."
Dr. E. Smith, an authority upon the subject, showed that the value of tea is determined in the market by its flavour and body; by the aromatic qualities of its essential oil and the chemical elements of the leaf, rather than by the chemical composition of its juices. Delicacy and fulness of flavour, with a certain body, are the required characteristics of the market. The same authority tells us that the tea-taster prepares his samples from a uniform and very small quantity, viz. the weight of a new sixpence, and infuses it for five minutes with about four ounces of water in a covered pottery vessel; and in order to prevent injury to his health by repeated tasting, does not swallow the fluid. He must have naturally a sensitive and refined taste, should be always in good health, and able to estimate flavour with the same minuteness at all times.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Russia, also, has become impressed with the importance of growing its own tea; but the efforts of its agriculturists appear to have been unsuccessful. Samples of the produce of the tea-plants which have been acclimatized in Georgia were lately exhibited in the hall of the Agricultural Society of the Caucasus at Tiflis, and appear to have excited considerable interest. The local journals, however, admit that the samples proved to be rather poor in flavour, and that their aroma resembled that of Chinese teas of very inferior quality. It is pleaded, however, that these specimens were grown by a planter of little experience in the Chinese methods of cultivation and preparation, and hopes are entertained of ultimate success.—Manchester Examiner, April 23, 1884.