Tea-Blending as a Fine Art

by Joseph M. Walsh

Japan Teas are usually graded as “Common,” “Choice,” “Extra Choice” and “Choicest.”

India and Ceylon Teas are divided into “Breaks,” each separate picking being known in trade as a “flush” and graded accordingly. Nearly all the India and Ceylon Teas are first “bulked;” that is, the whole is run together in one heap and thoroughly mixed before being put up in the chests, this process having the advantage of insuring the regularity of the break or chop. The selection of India and Ceylon Teas for blending purposes is much more difficult than that of China and Japan Teas, greater care being required to avoid Teas that will not keep well as well as those which may possess any other objectionable peculiarity. The loss of strength and flavor is also much greater in some grades than in others, the kinds most affected being the too highly-fired Teas, the light-flavored Teas and those that possess a loose, rough or open leaf.

WHEN TO BUY TEAS.

The Tea market fluctuating considerably, sometimes it will be necessary for the dealer to learn to understand something of the law of supply and demand, which, to a great extent, affects the fluctuations of the Tea market, before he can be sure of making desirable purchases. The dealer in Tea who not only understands the article he is dealing in, but whose knowledge and judgment enable him, in addition, to make his purchases about the proper time, possesses many advantages over his competitors, the value of which cannot be overestimated. For instance, each season, on the arrival of the first steamers from China and Japan, high prices rule for the earliest pickings, and if the market be bare of chance lots, these full prices are continued for some time thereafter. Then follows a dull, drooping market, from which the dealer derives no satisfaction, but should the demand at first be high and the stocks large, through dealers declining to purchase at full figures, prices rapidly decline to a more reasonable level, after which they then continue comparatively steady for the balance of the year, unless some outside causes should arise to create an advance. For these reasons dealers would do well to take advantage of the fine selections of Teas that arrive during July, August and September from China and Japan. In the purchase of India and Ceylon Teas it will also be found necessary to watch the new arrivals closely, as, after the heavy receipts during October and November, the market is nearly always easier, but when the arrivals are light the market is much higher. These facts are worth the special attention of dealers, as India and Ceylon Teas, although until quite recently comparatively unknown, now form some of the principal kinds for blending purposes.

With the great reduction in the importation prices and the keener competition among dealers, the retail prices of Tea have been brought down to a very low figure, and as dealers generally have educated the public to the purchase of poor and trashy Teas at low prices, it is not probable that the retail prices will ever again reach any higher figures, unless war or other similar cause should lead to a duty being placed upon the commodity. Yet notwithstanding these unprecedented low prices, the per capita consumption of Tea is comparatively very small in this country at the present time. One of the chief causes of this small consumption is directly traceable to the custom now prevalent among retail dealers of charging exorbitant profits on inferior Teas in order to make up for losses sustained on other goods, together with the forcing of poor Teas on their customers. These unwise and impolitic practices might be overlooked were it not for the greater mistake made of sacrificing quality to profit, which in an article of daily and almost universal use like Tea, is an important consideration, so that by rectifying this error and giving more attention to the careful selection of his Teas by the dealer, there is no valid reason why the consumption of the article could not be at least doubled in a short time in this country.

PART IV.
ADULTERATION AND DETECTION.

The Teas of commerce are subject to three principal forms of adulteration, viz.: Facing or coloring with deleterious compounds in order to enhance their appearance, mixing with spurious and spent or once used leaves, with the object of increasing their bulk, and sanding or adulterating with mineral matter to add to their weight. But it is against the two first most commonly dangerous forms of adulteration that the principal efforts of dealers and Tea inspectors should more particularly be directed, the latter having received some attention from analysts and chemists, but not to that extent which the importance of the subject merits.

Of the various forms of adulteration practiced in China and Japan, the facing or artificial coloring of low-grade Green Teas is perhaps the most prevalent and glaring, the material used for the purpose being usually composed of Prussian blue, China clay, gypsum, turmeric and indigo.

The process of coloring Green Teas is performed by placing a portion of the Prussian blue in a large bowl and crushing it into a fine powder, a small quantity of gypsum is then added, and the two substances ground and mixed together in the proportions of one part blue to four parts of the gypsum, both making in combination a light blue preparation, in which state it is applied to the leaves during the last process of firing. One ounce of this coloring matter will face or color from fifteen to twenty pounds of Tea leaves, imparting to them a dull leaden-blue color and a greasy appearance readily detected in the hand.