Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 50207-h.htm or 50207-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/50207/pg50207-images.html)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50207/50207-h.zip)
Images of the original pages are available through
Internet Archive. See
https://archive.org/details/teablendingasfin00wals
Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Text enclosed by tilde characters is in bold face (~bold~).
[Illustration: Tea Hills of China.]
TEA-BLENDING AS A FINE ART
by
JOSEPH M. WALSH,
Author of
Tea
Its History and Mystery.
[Illustration]
“THE CUP THAT CHEERS BUT NOT INEBRIATES.”--Cowper.
Philadelphia:
Published by the Author.
1896.
Copyright
By
Joseph M. Walsh.
1896.
CONTENTS.
Pages.
I.--INTRODUCTION 7-11
II.--CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF TEAS 13-36
III.--ART OF TESTING AND SELECTING TEAS 37-44
IV.--ADULTERATION AND DETECTION 45-49
V.--ART OF BLENDING TEAS 51-91
VI.--ART OF KEEPING, SELLING AND PREPARING TEA 93-104
[Illustration: (Branch of Tea Plant.)]
PART I.
INTRODUCTION.
There is no article handled by the grocer which demands greater
attention, engages more of his time, or has a more important bearing
upon the success of his business than Tea, as it stands in many
respects far ahead of all the other commodities in commanding and
maintaining patronage, as well as in attracting and retaining trade
for numerous other articles, and at the same time yielding a larger
margin of profit to the dealer. Gain being the fundamental object of
all business transactions, and as tea to the grocer plays such an
essential part in determining this profit, we may be excused if, in
considering the article from a purely practical standpoint, we urge
the relation which it has to the success of the dealer, and who, as
a general rule, experiences much more difficulty in the judicious
selection of his Tea than in any other staple he trades in. The cause
of this difficulty is obvious to dealers in Tea in general, being
entirely due to the numerous varieties and almost innumerable grades,
flavors and characters of the commodity with which he is confronted and
to be selected from in order to satisfy the diversity of tastes and
various preferences to be catered to in order to please each individual
taste and preference. It therefore requires no ordinary skill or brief
experience to make the proper selection or combination to suit the
consumer under these trying circumstances.
The acquisition of such skill or knowledge, for all practical purposes,
is not, however, quite as difficult as is supposed by many dealers, it
being fairly obtained by an intelligent study of the leading varieties
and grades most in demand in the country or section of consumption, in
addition to a few simple and inexpensive experiments by the dealer in
order to familiarize himself with the leading characters and values
of the different varieties, grades and flavors of the Teas best
adapted to each particular class or section of the country in which
he may be doing business. Little is known, comparatively, in this
country particularly, of the art or principle of blending or “mixing”
of Teas. The American dealer and consumer alike being averse to the
practice as a general rule, regarding it as about on a parity with
the other too numerous forms of adulteration and sophistication now
in vogue, not only in the countries of consumption, but also in those
of production. Such objections, however, are entirely erroneous, as
it is an acknowledged fact that a combination of different varieties
of wheat make better flour, the same being true of coffee and many
other staples of diet and drink, so that the practice of blending
Teas for the consumer, if properly understood and skillfully and
judiciously performed, would prove a more satisfactory one to the
consumer, and at the same time a more profitable one to the dealer.
The object of blending being, not as the Tea-using public imagines to
lower the standard or reduce the cost at the expense of quality, but
to produce a measurably better Tea and obtain a fuller and heavier
liquor in addition to a much finer and more desirable flavor than
that yielded by any single variety when used alone. _A Tea, in short,
giving better satisfaction to the consumer at a more moderate price,
and at the same time allowing a better margin of profit to the dealer
without lowering his standard of quality._ To illustrate, a dealer
may already be selling a Tea to his customers, possessing a pleasing
and suitable flavor, but be lacking in body or too light in liquor,
whereas by his adding to it a small proportion of one or two other
varieties possessing these requisite properties the defect is easily
and inexpensively remedied, and a fuller-liquied, heavier-bodied,
richer-flavored infusion is produced; the drawing and drinking
qualities of the Tea being improved all round without extra cost to the
dealer or increase of price to the consumer. It must therefore follow
that by the skillful and judicious mixing or blending of a number of
Teas, each differing in variety or grade, a more uniform, pleasing and
palatable Tea, that is, one richer in liquor, heavier in body and more
aromatic in flavor, can be produced by this now acknowledged principle
at a more moderate cost to dealer and consumer than can otherwise be
obtained from any single variety or grade of Tea.
The idea of blending Teas originally arose from the experience
incidentally gained by some old and life-long Tea dealers, that a
beverage richer in liquor, more pleasing in flavor, more satisfactory
in price to the consumer and less costly to the dealer, could be
produced from a number of the different varieties or grades when
skillfully amalgamated or judiciously combined than could otherwise
be obtained from any single sort when used alone. No sooner was
this experience confirmed than the “mixing” or blending of Teas was
generally resorted to by many of those who had the dispensing of the
commodity to the public. But while some dealers had a marked success
in this branch of the Tea business from the start, others again who
attempted to practice it failed completely in their efforts to produce
any satisfactory results to themselves or their customers, the end
accomplished being instead of an improvement an injury and detriment to
the quality and value of the Teas so combined, more often to such an
extent that the single and regular variety of Tea in demand would have
pleased better at less labor, time and cost to the dealer. The cause of
this failure was, however, due entirely and alone to the want of that
necessary training, experience or intelligent knowledge which would
enable the unskilled blender to understand the peculiar characteristics
and affinities of the different varieties and various grades of the
Teas which are improved by combination, and their component parts, as
well as to avoid those which are deteriorated by the amalgamation.
The knowledge and skill required for this very particular and precise
branch of the Tea business being only attained in its perfection by
numerous tests and constant experiments, which are best performed by
the admixture of from two to five--or more in many instances--small
samples of Tea differing, frequently materially, in variety, character
and quality, and alternately changing, altering and substituting the
varieties and proportions of the same until the dealer has finally
succeeded in producing a Tea unique in character, identified with
himself, and differing in every respect from that of any Tea offered
or sold by his competitors, the liquor, flavor and aroma of which
will prove more pleasing and satisfactory in quality and price to his
patrons, and at a more moderate cost to himself.
Time and experience have proved beyond question that skillful and
judicious tea blending will be found to amply repay for all the
study, labor and expense bestowed on it by the dealer, as the
chief and only difficulty existing in the art lies in the fact of
first finding a combination or combinations that will please the
majority of consumers. But it is an egregious mistake to imagine
that the successful or profitable blending of teas consists solely
in the indiscriminate or injudicious heaping together carelessly
and indifferently of two or more varieties or grades of tea in one
homogeneous mass without the slightest regard to quantity, quality,
affinity, affiliation or assimilation of leaf, liquor, character
or flavor of the component parts. While on the contrary the art or
principle consists in the proper combining of two or more different
varieties or grades of tea intended to form the combination on an at
least intelligent or judicious, if not scientific manner, so as to
yield a unique or particular tea, of uniform quality, strength, flavor
and pungency, at a given price, being at the same time pleasing and
satisfactory to the average consumer, and maintaining its standard of
quality at all times and under all circumstances.
But while it may be admitted that it is difficult to master the art
of successful tea blending thoroughly without the serving of an
apprenticeship to the business, and that the combinations that may be
found in it are almost kaleidoscopic in their range, still even the
veriest novice need not spoil good tea by injudicious mixing, as all
that is required is a little study and a few simple rules carefully
followed, although these cannot be substituted entirely for years of
practical experience in such a difficult and at the present time most
essential branch of the tea business, but will nevertheless prevent any
serious error, and at the same time insure a fair measure of success to
the most inexperienced in the art.
[Illustration: (Chinese Tea Garden.)]