The Romance of Our Cup of Tea

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Romance of Our Cup of Tea

NEARLY 5000 years ago, a famous Chinese scholar of his day wrote of lea (or "tcha" as his countrymen called it) : "Tea is better than wine, for it leadeth not to intoxication." To-day it is the most universally used and enjoyed of all beverages. Throughout tlie world. be it in England or America. Asia or Alaska, the traveller may enjoy his cup of tea with the same relish as in his own little home town. It. is a strange fact that, though popular amongst Orientals of all ranks and classes for thousands of years, tea was not introduced into Europe until less than four hundred years ago. r I he tea plant has hard, glossy leaves, and in its natural unplucked state would grow to twenty or more feet ill height. In tlie Hardens, however, it is kopt to u small bush from four to six feet high. The flowers, creamy white in colour, are somewhat similar to the dog-rose, and the soft green berry or pod, which follows, contains one, two or three white seeds.

History is a trifle vague on the point, lint the wisest authorities tell lis that the birthplace of the tea plant was China, though Assam also claims the honour. The first consignment of tea to English shores was of 143 Mb, and was sent home by the British East India Com pany. Tea was first welcomed more as a medicine than as a general beverage, and Samuel Pepys, writing in 100(1, described it a? "a drink which Mr. Pelling the Pothiacary tells her (his wife) is •rood for her cold." In 1057 the first tea bouse was opened in Exchange Alley, London, by Thomas Garwav, where the leaf was sold at ju ices from 10/ to 50/ per pound. Though China, India and Ceylon arc the great tea-producing countries. the leaf is also grown, but in varying quantities, in Java, Sumatra, Siam, Japan. Southern Kussia, and even in Carolina, U.S.A. Within the British Empire tea is to be found under cultivation in parts of South, East and West Africa. Though China is the home of the plant and the largest tea-drinking country of the world, the export of China tea to-day is comparatively small. On an Indian or Ceylon garden the first step is to clear land for the nursery in which the young tea plants are to start life. This often entails a terrific amount of work, not only in clearing away jungle, but often in blasting away solid rock. The seeds, which are first planted in special beds, are later transplanted to the nursery proper, where they are carefully guarded from the scorching sun and from wandering lieasts. They are again transplanted, wbeh tliey reach a foot in height, into the garden, in rows four feet apart. Four, or sometimes five years' later the plu<-kinjr commence ■«. In India the young leaf is picked every

WITH THE TASTERS AT MINCING LANE

the juices are well mixed and a distinct " result of an hour's rolling tlie leaf turns separate the finer from the coarser. To leaf is piled on a series of trays betweci Once again the tea changes colour. now we know so well, and a current of hot further fermentation.

twelve days from April to Decemlwr. and all the year round in C'e\' n and Java. The leaf is fathered into baskets, vreiphed. and then spread on wire iravs to "wither" by the natural heat of il.e «un for eighteen hours. Then the tea i= rolled so that "curl" fiven to the leaf. As the s yellow, and it is then sifted to > brinj; about "fermentation" the ■n which thr> air can freely paceto ihe rich copper shade \vhich air is passed oxer it to prevent

Die average siz-e of a garden is "00 acre-. owned, generally. together with manv others, by a London company who appoint resident managers. The manual work i< done by coolie: men. women and children. Native doctors, resident on the garden, attend them in sickness, firewoo i is provided free, and food, principally rice, they cither grow on a small patch of land outside their huts or it is sold to them at co-t by the company. The t liinese tea "farm" is worked and owned by the small liirmer. The farm i« quite small, t sually of less than five aires. When made, the tea is s-old at the local "Voug*' or market, the Inner taking it to tlie general "hung" at one of the coastal tovrn«. where it is again auctioned. It is plucked in midApril. again three weeks later, and finally a la-t plucking is made at the end of six weck=. When a consignment of tea arrives in Knglaliil the mcrchmt'p broker ofTcr* it for sale at the Ix>ndon Mincing Lane sales room, having previously sent catalogues to all Ijondon wholesalers, who. if interested. have already drawn samples. Mincing Lane is London's centre of the wholesale tea fade — a place throbbing with life and activity, where thousands of tons of tea are blended for the great catering firms of Britain. Thi = vast place gives rise to one of the strangest of professions —that of the tea-taster. These tea-tasters are highly skilled men with -xeeptional palates. Tea to the weight of a sixjtcnce i* brewed, and is then allowed to stand for six minutes. Then each brew is tested by a taster, who relies not only upon his mouth, turning the liquid on his tongue, but upon his no-e, smelling the infused leaves. The work of the tea-taster —queer profession as it must seem to many—is of the utmost importance; upon his decision depends the favour of the millions. Thus does tea come frrni the garden to our table. It is a refreshing, economical beverage, which for four hundred years lia = been the favourite of King? and Queens of England and the inspiration of many clever men. Doctor •lohnson admitted: "I am a hardened tea drinker, whose kettle has hardly time to cool,"' and of Jueen Anne at Hampton Court i*. was written: Here thon. rreat Anna '. Whom three realms obf-y. IHjsrt sometimes counsel take —and sometimes