To the ordinary person, tea is Just toa, a commodity Bought at a certain price to be added to. boiling, wer, and combined with sugar and mille to ake a very pleasing drink. But to the expert in tea, the man who buys it and sells It and makes his living from it, tea Is a product which requires a special dictionary of considerably more! than 400 words la order to describe the different brands, the places where it {is produced, the people who are engaged in its production, and even the many diferent qualities confined ten.
"This dictionary is to be found in the 1990-7 edition of Ukers' "International Tea and Coffee Buyers' Guide." In places, this dictionary includes. words {hat it is dificult to axgoelate with tea, for instance the word "boy," inter: preted a5 meaning "term commonly Used in the Bast and the Par Bast for servant" nds a. place among. the tea terms. Evidently the term "chine chin," described aso corruption of the 'Chinese salutation of "good-bye," must have taken Its origin from the farewells of friends at ten parties, for itis" also included in' the tea dictionary.
By far the most interesting portion of the dictionary is that which deals with the diferent varieties of the product, which are far more numerous, apparently, than the outsider would lever imagine. 'There are, for instance, Slutumnal. teas, or teas' which have teen touched with cool weather, there billy tea, made by the Australian Dushman ina billy can, there fe bitter tea, prepared in Goshmere by behn 2 tinned copper vessel, after adding red polish, a mixture of aniseed and salt, Bitter tea has ils own peculiar method of preparation, for it Is Upulated that it must be served from ra. teapot. of brass of copper, tin lined." Brick tea, a common grade of act. Under the supervision of the {Chinese and Japanese tea, is mixed with stalk and dust, and moulded into bricks under high pressure.
Tea Made With Butter It hardly makes-one's mouth water to read about butter tea, which is bolled tea mixed with salt and soda, and afterwards strained into a churn containing butter and barley, parched and ground, The tea is afterwards churned, and a lump of butter is sometimes added in the serving basin, Then, as a contrast, there Is just common tea, that which gives the plainest and lightest liquor being thin and of particular flavour.
From the island of Formosa there comes a peculiar kind of tea known "handkerchief tea." It gets its name from the fact that Chinese tea growers bring down from their little gardens or farms very "tippy" leis or teas with white and golden tips, carrying them in large sible handkerchiefs. Then, of course, as in all other businesses, there are the little tricks of the trade, such as the mixing of willow and other spurious leaf with genuine tea leaf, and fraudulently Selling if as tea, appropriately named "ie tea." Woollen tea fs the transla tion "of the Shanghai Chinese. expression for country-fired tea which has not been refined.
What more delightful name than "pretty fingers" could be applied to a special brand of tea? Known in Japan og "momikdri." this is a new type of tea produced in that country. blossoms introduced during the fung and packing processes combine to make the scented teas which are produced China and Formosa, Tea can even be described as "self-drinking," although, for all its virtues, it can hardly ye said to justify this description, and the term simply means "requiring no flavouring "Earth tea" is the name for tea "manufactured in Shanghai from leat brought to the city from Hangchow, 'To the casual drinker of tea, whose only instructions as to its preparation are' "a little more milk, please,' Jor "I always take two lumps of sugar with mine," it may come as something of a shock to discover the many different qualities of tea known to the connoisseur. It can, for instance, be bright, oF 0 sparkling, red liquor, of it may be brisk, that is to say "live, not flat. Tea can be dull, meaning that it is not clear and bright, or it may be flat, lacking briskness and pungency, Mature (ea, onthe other hand, Is that which has no flatness oF rawness, and is, presumably, the type fof tea which is considered ideal, Tea With Coppery Taste The coppery taste of some toas is known as "metallic," and "point" is the expression used for brightness and acidity of liquor. Rasping tea Is tea Which has a course flavour in the cup: Toa which is soft and lacking point is~ referred to as stewy, but it can be said to possess strength if it is thick, pungent and brisk. The Japanese, the Chinese, attach a great deal of importance to the correct prepar~ ation of tea, and have a special word, "chao;" for the art of making tea, The taster, of course, is a vastly Important individual in the tea trade, and so it fs disquieting to find in the dictionary the term "tea gobber," a slang expression applied to these painstaking gentlemen, Far more disquieting, however, is the frst tea form contained in' the dictionary, agony of the leaves." It is dimeult to refrain from a tear of genuine sympathy when this term catches the eye, but its interpretation, the tasters' expression descriptive of the unfolding of the leaves when boiling water is applied to them, is more.re-assuring.
Those engaged in the tea trade are not the only ones who appreciate its true value as a drink, and its many delicate qualities. Others may find muelyof value in the "Tea Dictionary."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.