ABOUT TEA

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 58, 2 December 1919, Page 3

ABOUT TEA

A SENSITIVE HEBB.

How sensitive a herb tm is may not be known to all. Do poodle, ns n'-rnle rnr'ise titat to st-sreKschpst of tea near ' ' ■■'■■ge- l . 'onions., .'■ anion?, or , other ouonr-jMrittiiiif fn...l! ; ' or goods is very damaging to the of tea? How oi'U'ii one hears—"This tea does not seem to taste as nice, as the last lot." The reason, may be that it hns bsen'kept near to something elso, ami has absorbed the odour. The professional tea-taster has « tir.late trained to detect such foreign influences. On the advice of a Wellington taster Some tirao ago, a oonsigiimont of tea was condemned as unfit for sale. To the. eye the tea was perfect, and to smell it in the hand it did- not disnlny any faults, but the, taster raid definitely that the tea. had been nieketl in tli'o vicinity of a bush or scrub fire. Inquiry was made in Ceylon, and the, reply ennio back Hint n fire hud occurrecL on the ml joining estate whilst that lor of tea was being picked. Another instance of the tasier's keen sense was afforded by a traveller who stowed a ."amnio of tea (wrapped in a piece of'pri;! iV'in the snme pocket in which he kfc-phis handkerchief. During that day is ate an omnp-e, and had occasion to wijie hi* hands on his handkerchief. Subsequently he handed the sample to thn hster." who niid at once that (he sample hod. been spoiled. It had been stowed next to oranges either on the ship or in a. slinn, The traveller did not remember at.the ti>e that he had eaten ian oraneo and us?<! his handkerchief afterwards to wine the jnire from his fingers, but the unerring patote of the taster found the blemish in the tea. ■ The above, should make -ponple. a little more, careful as to where tliev keep their tea in the future, if they wi*h it served in an uneontaminnred condition.