ART OF KEEPING, SELLING AND PREPARING TEA.
The utmost care is necessary in the keeping and handling of Tea in
order to prevent from deteriorating in strength and flavor or otherwise
decaying until disposed of. It should therefore whenever possible be
kept by itself in a moderately warm temperature and always covered
over until required, and when any of the packages have been opened and
the contents not all removed, care must be taken to replace the lead
lining, lid and matting, so as to exclude the dust and damp as well as
all foreign odors that may surround it. For this reason also Tea should
never be exposed in windows or at store-doors where the air, damp and
dust surely and rapidly destroy all semblance to its original condition.
* * * * *
All Teas when once they have ripened and become seasoned commence to
decay, but there is a vast difference in the time that some varieties
will last before the deterioration becomes objectionable in comparison
with others. Some kinds, such as Foochow and Formosa Oolongs, keeping
for a year or more. China Congous and Souchongs and Japan Teas from
six to eight months, while Scented Teas, India and Ceylon Teas, after
a much briefer period become dull and brackish, and it frequently
happens that when the latter are a year old they are worth only half
their original cost.
* * * * *
All Teas possessing a natural aptitude to become impregnated with
foreign flavor of any product placed near it, and to absorb the foul
odors by which they may be surrounded, should be kept as far apart as
possible from any high-smelling articles in the dealer’s stock--such as
soap, fish, spices and oils of all kinds--as they very rapidly absorb
any pungent odors that may be in their immediate vicinity. And Teas
have even been known to completely alter their flavor and character by
being placed too close to molasses, oranges and lemons, therefore it
becomes important for the dealer not to keep Teas too near any product
emitting a foul or strong aroma. For this reason also they should not
be dispensed out of freshly-painted bins or caddies, it being much more
preferable at all times to deal them out of the original lead-lined
chests, replacing the lid until required. Again, Teas should never be
mixed in rainy, damp or humid weather, as they are bound to absorb and
be injured by the oxydizing influences of the atmosphere, nor must they
be kept too near a fire or stove, a dry, cool atmosphere of moderate
temperature being always best for them.
* * * * *
Of the numerous commodities dealt in by the grocer there is none so
important as that of Tea, this importance being due to its value
as a trade-making, trade-retaining and profit-producing article,
particularly when furnished of such quality as to give permanent
satisfaction to the general public as well as to the regular customer.
But notwithstanding its importance in these respects there is no
article handled by the grocer the quality and value of which is so
little understood by the average dealer. Again assailed as the retail
grocery business now is by keen competition from so many queer Teas,
the necessity for a better knowledge of and more careful attention to
the article is at once apparent if the grocer--to whom its sale of
right belongs--is not to find the almost entire withdrawal of this
article from his line of business.
* * * * *
To properly understand the selecting and blending of Teas is therefore
to be possessed of a valuable and profitable knowledge; but while such
proficiency is not within the scope of every dealer, the study of these
points to any extent will prove not only lucrative but entertaining and
instructive. And while it may be claimed that such a study will occupy
too much valuable time, or that it is much more economical to purchase
from the wholesale Tea blender, still the great importance of a better
acquaintance with such knowledge and experience must be evident to the
dealer. For the proper blending of Tea the dealer should be provided
with a small kettle and other apparatus for filtering and boiling
the water as conveniently and rapidly as possible. Small scales for
weighing the samples of Tea to be tested, pots for drawing and cups for
tasting, and so start from the beginning.
* * * * *
Samples of the Teas desired having been procured from different houses
should then be drawn and tested and a careful examination made of the
leaves of each, their size, color, condition and smell being closely
noted. In such drawings all Teas of an objectionable character should
be set aside, and those remaining on the boards carefully arranged
in the order of their value; but should any doubt exist in giving a
decision between the several samples as to their superiority, then
the drawing should be repeated and the poorer ones rejected, thus
narrowing down the contest to the best Teas. Again, where it proves
difficult to decide between the cup qualities of those remaining,
then the size, style, condition and weight of the dry leaf should
be taken into consideration, which will be found helpful in making
the required decision. The decision having been arrived at, however,
the Tea considered best may also be higher in price than some others
approximating to it in style and drawing qualities, and if it be found
that it cannot be purchased except at a price considerably higher than
others on the table approaching it closely, it will be better under
such circumstances to select another Tea, grading second, or even
third in quality, at a much lower figure. An excellent plan for the
careful Tea blender is to have a “type” or standard sample of the Tea
he desires to duplicate and which he has found to be satisfactory, and
samples of Tea of the various kinds of known value should always be
kept convenient for reference, and in air-tight tins, with their grade,
price, character, chop mark and year of production marked thereon.
ART OF SELLING TEA.
The dealer having succeeded in selecting and blending Teas that will
please his customers, the next most important consideration for him
is how best to bring them before the notice of his trade and the
public generally. In this case he must not treat his Tea as a “staple”
article, but as an entirely new commodity requiring a special effort
for its introduction. Nothing gives such a bad impression to Tea
customers as careless and slovenly packing of Tea. All Tea bags should
be of fine quality and neatly, if not artistically, printed, and great
care should be taken to obtain neatness of appearance in tying them
up. The dealer should also have some special and appropriate name for
his blends, this brand appearing prominently on the package, together
with specific instructions for drawing the Tea. Small hand-bills,
brief, pointed and attractive, describing the merits of the blend may
also be placed in every purchase of other goods and sugar, and other
bags or wrappers should contain special notices so that they may reach
others who do not buy Tea, and the clerks or salesmen should also be
instructed to talk up the Tea frequently but judiciously as possible.
* * * * *
The dealer should ascertain where customers for other goods get their
Tea, what variety or grade it is, what price they pay for it, and, if
possible, obtain a sample of it. Then test it carefully and be prepared
to show that he can not only match it, but furnish a better one in both
price and quality, giving them samples at the same time to prove it.
And again, if a tea customer should quit dealing suddenly he should
immediately find out the cause and endeavor to remedy it. He should
also send out samples occasionally throughout the neighborhood of a
line of Teas that he may deem suitable to the locality. But above and
beyond all other efforts to increase his Tea trade, he should handle
only high-grade Teas, endeavoring at all times to prove that the finer
Teas are the most economical and satisfactory to purchase in the end,
as the finer grades yield a larger margin of profit to the dealer and
better satisfaction to the consumer, while it has a tendency to create
favorable comment and win an increasing Tea trade.
Latterly, a new development in the Tea trade has, to the surprise and
loss of the older generation of retail grocers and Tea dealers, assumed
quite a prominence, for, if the glowing advertisements and startling
placards in stores and on fences form any criterion, the public are
taking a liking to the cheap and trashy-blended Teas put up in tins,
lead, paper and other Tea-deteriorating packages under fancy names
which have no relation whatever to the variety, district or country
where they are grown, it being an acknowledged principle that Teas
blended in bulk and put back again in their original lead-lined chests
undoubtedly keep better, preserving its strength and flavor longer
than when exposed to the oxydizing influences of the atmosphere during
its transference to the tin, lead or paper packets ornamented with a
cheap and showy label, which the more gorgeous they are the more apt to
communicate the taste of the ink, paste, glue or other foul-smelling
material in which it is packed to the Tea they are intended to adorn.
* * * * *
And still another reason why the Grocer and Tea dealer should avoid
these blended packet Teas is that the cost of the packages, labels and
labor, adds from eight to ten cents per pound to the original price
of the Tea, in addition to the cost of advertising and flaunting them
before the eyes of the public, an expense which is simply enormous in
itself, and which the dealer and consumer must eventually pay for,
either by a higher price or inferior quality of the Tea. Again, engaged
as most dealers are at the present time in trying to stop the plague
of all sorts of proprietary goods put up in cheap and oftentimes
ill-smelling packages, which yields them so little profit and makes
them only the servants of the packers, it is astonishing, to say the
least, that any dealer can be found to adopt the same system with Tea
when they can put up some favorite blend, and pack it themselves in
cleaner, cheaper and more stylish packages, if their customers should
desire it in that form, and sell them under their own brand and name,
and not work to make money and a reputation for others who dictate to
him as to what he shall or shall not do with regard to selling Teas.
For instance, you are paying 43 cents for Package Tea with premiums, if
you handle it. You sell this Tea at 60 cents, making 17 cents per pound
profit. Now by putting up your own blend and giving your own premiums
you can buy just as good Tea, or better, for 20 cents per pound. You
can buy just as good premiums to stand you 12 cents per pound, making
32 cents instead of 43, or a saving of 11 cents or 33-1/3 per cent.
Besides, you control your own Tea trade and have the advertising free.
* * * * *
The art of selling Tea is even a much more difficult one than that
of buying, owing to the numerous different and varying tastes to be
catered to. For this reason alone the dealer should learn all he
possibly can about the article, in order that he may be enabled to
suit each particular liking and at the same time answer any and all
questions about it intelligently. Find out what grade and variety as
well as the desired strength and flavor of the Tea your customers
prefer, and occasionally give them small samples of the different
blends to try until you have caught their taste. Make a note of same,
and always afterwards endeavor to give them as near the same kind and
quality. Talk up your Teas in a clear and practical manner, and be
sure your scales, weights and scoops are always clean and shining, and
keep a small memorandum book in which to mark the kind and retail
prices of your Teas, the date in which the caddie has been filled
and the quantity it holds, as this method gives an accurate idea
of the quantity of Tea sold in a certain time, which will be found
particularly useful when Blended Teas are largely sold.
* * * * *
In brief, advertise your Teas freely but judiciously and modestly,
never claiming too much for them, that is, let your advertisements be
brief but novel, and change the same at least once per week, and always
push your high-grade Teas first, last and all the time. Now and then
give a Tea-testing exhibit in your store by fixing up a space near
the door or window as a Tea-room surrounded by Tea-boxes with fancy
faces, hanging some Chinese or Japanese lanterns around with which to
light up at night to attract attention. Inside of which place a small
Tea-table, a small gas stove, with kettle and cups for drawing the Tea.
By this means the dealer will be enabled to prepare fresh-made Tea at
all times, with fresh-boiled water, of any kind the customer may desire
to taste or to push the sale of any particular blend he may desire to
introduce among his trade. But it is advisable at these exhibits to
use only fine Teas, using the common grades only by way of comparison.
By this means the dealer can conveniently and readily point out to the
customer the great advantages to be gained and economy of purchasing
only high-grade Teas. Instruct your patrons meantime how to properly
prepare Tea for use, emphasizing the fact that Tea must be _brewed_ and
not stewed, as is too often the case among consumers.
ART OF PREPARING TEA FOR USE.
It is singular, to say the least, that nothing is ever done by Tea
dealers in this country to educate or enlighten their customers in the
proper manner of preparing their Tea for use, to study the character of
the water or to preserve its aromatic properties after purchasing. Good
Tea, like good wine, can be kept intact for years with considerable
advantage to the dealer and consumer alike, and there is no valid
reason why consumers of Tea should not be as particular and fastidious
as drinkers of wine. But to obtain a good cup of Tea, in the first
place the consumer should purchase only the best Tea, it requiring much
less of the finer grades to make good Tea than of the common kinds, and
will prove the most economical in the end.
* * * * *
In the proper preparation of Tea for use, the quality of the infusion
is much affected also by the character of the water as well as by the
method of making or drawing it. Tea being an _infusion_ and not a
_decoction_ like coffee, it should be _brewed_ not _stewed_, the chief
object being to extract as much of the _theine_ or refreshing principle
as possible and as little of the _tannin_ or astringent property as
can be, at the same time without either boiling or overdrawing it.
Many Tea drinkers who imagine erroneously that a very dark-colored
liquor indicates strength boil the leaves, while others again spoil
the infusion by first putting the leaves in boiling water. Some again
place the leaves in cold water, and then put it, the vessel on the
fire to boil, prolonged infusion being another serious mistake. All
of these improper methods produce the same evil results, viz., that
of extracting an increased amount of the tannin, thereby destroying
the true color and flavor of the Tea by imparting a blackish color and
giving a bitter or astringent taste to the liquor. When Tea has been
once boiled or overdrawn, the increased quantity of tannin extracted
can be readily detected by the extreme dark color of the liquor as
well as by its bitterly astringent flavor. Another reprehensible
practice of some Tea makers is that of adding fresh leaves into the tea
pot with those that have been already once drawn, as it cannot add to
either the strength or flavor of the Tea by putting more leaves in the
tea pot after the first drawing, for the simple reason that the Tea
water will not extract the _theine_ from the dry leaves of the fresh
Tea. _Only fresh boiling water will do this effectually_, the water
once used only increases the _amount_ of _tannin_ extracted, thereby
darkening the color and destroying the flavor and merely adds to the
quantity of leaves already in the vessel without at all affecting the
active principle, theine. So that if it be required to increase the
quantity or strength of the infusion already in the pot, some fresh Tea
leaves must be drawn in a separate vessel and the liquor poured in that
already made.
* * * * *
In the proper preparation of Tea for use, therefore, the object should
be to extract as little of the tannin as possible and as much of the
theine and volatile oil as can be extracted without permitting the
infusion to boil or overdraw. To best obtain these most desirable
results, put the requisite quantity of Tea leaves in a covered china
or earthenware pot--all tin and metal vessels should be avoided--and
pour in freshly boiling water that has been boiling for at least
three minutes, and then allow the vessel to stand where it will keep
hot, WITHOUT _boiling_, for from eight to ten minutes before serving,
according to the variety of Tea used. There will be a sparkle and
aroma about Tea made from fresh boiling water in this manner that it
will not receive from the flat, hot water that has been boiled too
long or repeatedly. In the stated time while the Tea is drawing only
the refreshing and exhilarating properties--the theine and volatile
oil--are extracted from the leaves, a longer infusion only dissolving
and extracting the astringent and deleterious principle--tannic
acid--which impairs digestion and injures the nervous system, for which
causes alone all boiled or overdrawn Tea should be avoided.
* * * * *
An earthern tea pot made of Minton, Doulton, or Satsuma ware, is the
best kind of vessel to prepare Tea in, but it must first be scalded out
with boiling water before putting the Tea leaves in and then set on the
range or stove to dry and keep hot for a few minutes. The Tea leaves
are then put in, after which they are also allowed to heat for a short
time before the boiling water is poured on them, from eight to ten
minutes before the Tea is required for use. The character of the water
also greatly influences the quality of the Tea, it being almost next to
impossible to make good Tea with hard water, so that soft water should
always be used when available, and any excess of lime in the water also
deteriorates the infusion. But this latter difficulty may be easily
remedied by the judicious addition of a little carbonate of soda, as
much as will cover the face of a dime being sufficient for an ordinary
drawing of Tea.
* * * * *
In moderate strength it requires about one teaspoonful of good tea to
a half pint of boiling water and an ordinary half teacupful of leaves
to every quart of boiling water, the latter making a fairly strong
infusion for five persons. China and Japan Teas require from eight to
ten minutes to draw thoroughly, the former requiring but little milk
and sugar, while Japan Teas are more palatable without the addition
of either. India Ceylon and Java Teas generally should not be allowed
to draw more than from five to seven minutes at the outside after the
boiling water has been poured on, as prolonged infusion makes the
flavor of these varieties particularly mawkish and bitter, while the
addition of an extra quantity of both milk and sugar greatly improves
their drinking qualities.
JOSEPH M. WALSH
[Illustration]
(America’s Greatest Tea Expert.--_Journal of Commerce_)
IMPORTER OF
[Illustration: Teas
ALL VARIETIES AND GRADES]
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Prices are missing in many of the recipes in the book; this is as
printed.
The following apparent errors have been corrected:
p. 11 "eggregious" changed to "egregious"
p. 11 "kaleidescopic" changed to "kaleidoscopic"
p. 20 "make color" changed to "make, color"
p. 25 "course" changed to "coarse"
p. 37 "course" changed to "coarse"
p. 38 "juciest" changed to "juiciest"
p. 38 "omitted" changed to "emitted"
p. 39 "thiene" changed to "theine"
p. 39 "value this" changed to "value, this"
p. 39 "not accustomed" changed to "accustomed"
p. 40 "loose" changed to "lose"
p. 43 "to the the" changed to "to the"
p. 46 "onced" changed to "once"
p. 52 "intended that" changed to "intended, that"
p. 54 "ridgidly" changed to "rigidly"
p. 58 "similiar" changed to "similar"
p. 60 "No 13." changed to "No. 13."
p. 60 "Chociest" changed to "Choicest"
p. 63 "of." changed to "of:--"
p. 64 "Imperal" changed to "Imperial"
p. 68 "together" changed to "together."
p. 70 "varities" changed to "varieties"
p. 71 "No 2." changed to "No. 2."
p. 75 "science very" changed to "science; very"
p. 77 "Pekoe-Sonchong" changed to "Pekoe-Souchong"
p. 82 "(3)" changed to "(3.)"
p. 83 "Teas, composing" changed to "Teas composing"
p. 85 "character instead" changed to "character, instead"
p. 89 "(_3_)" changed to "(_3._)"
The following possible errors have not been changed:
p. 9 fuller-liquied
p. 52 at a moderate cost
p. 57 .19
Inconsistent punctuation has otherwise been left as printed.
The following are inconsistently used in the text:
Basketfired and Basket-fired
Ningchow and Ning-chow
Ningyong and Ning-yong
Panfired and Pan-fired
Sundried and Sun-dried