A THRIVING INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 4003, 4 January 1892, Page 2

A THRIVING INDUSTRY.

Tho Empiro Tea Company, Amongst tbe Anglo Saxon race tea is one of tho prime necessities of life. The love of it has strongly impreg* nated (lie blood of our people, and Arotio onld and torrid heat are alike powerless to lessen the liking for it. But the popular taste has become very fastidious. It insists upon its favonrite beverage being of approved Savour. Hence has arisen the practice of tea blending, which has been carried to such a pitch aslo have attained almost the distinction of a fine art. No firm in this Colony have studied this art with more care and greater application, and are now practising it with greater success than Messrs W. and G, Tumbnll and Co., otherwise known as the Empire Tea Company. Unlike many of their competitors, they have not been content to produce a moderatetygood arliole at a very low price, but while always paying due regard to proper economy, they have aimed at procuring the very finest and most fragrant of teas, and gaining for themselves the reputation of tuning out the richestjblends in the market, That they have accomplished their purpose is best proved by the fact that although they have nine different brands of teas ranging in price from 2s to 3s a lb, the public manifest a Btrong predilection for the higher priced varieties, i This is all the moro gratifying proof < of the high appreciation in which 1 Messrs Turubull and Co's blends are : held by the general public, as tea , blenders in other parts of the Colony i assert that they Hid a difficulty in obtaining n largo sale for any variety of tea but that which is retailed at 2s ' alb,, The tea business of this firm has so rapidly and steadily expanded that it now affords constant employment for 14 hands, and its operations ' occupy the whole ol the top floor of ! their large warehouso in Custom- : house quay, In fact, the firm have for some time been contemplating the expediency of erecting a building for this special department alono, Amongst the employoes are two experienced tea blenders who ; served a long apprenticeship to the trade in London, All the latest and most improved appliances are used, and neither pains nor expense is spared to maintain the high repute which the Empire Company's brands have 1 gained. The very latest contrivance ', in use is a highly ingenious machine , for tea-papking, which Mr Nicholas i Reid was fortunate enough to secure during his recent visit to Europe, and it is probably the only one of the kind in use throughout the whole ot tho Australasian group of colonies. It compresses the tea by a single movement into neat and symmetrical lead packages, which then are placed in the attractive wrappers so familiar to the public, Tho most scrupulous caro is taken to onsuro a-high standard of quality for the various blends.. No sample of tea is allowed to leavo the warehouse without being subjeoted to frequent and severe tests. Those tests are applied right up to the time of packing, and any tea that is in the least degreß " off" is promptly thrown out, In this way public confidence is both assured and justified, The Company's various blends,. and the prices at which they are sold, aro as follows:—Mikado (two varieties), 2a per lb; pure Ceylon, 2s per lb; Empire, 2s 2d per lb; Buffalo, 2s 4d per lb; Crescpnt, 2s 6d per lb, Elephant, 2s 8d per lb; Kangra Valley, 2s lOd per lb; Houdah (an Indian tea), 3s per lb; Dragon (finest Ceylon), 3b per lb, Nearly all the Company's teas are Indian and Ceylon.-iU.2ta.