OCR Text |
Show BIG PAY FOR TEA TASTERS. One Kxpert I Beported to Recelre a Salary Sal-ary of 850,000 a Year. "Since the Canadian Paoiflo railroad was completed and a line of steam era established from the orient," said a tea taster to a reporter, "immense cargoes of tea have been going there from China, Chi-na, Japan and other countries. It has been my bnsiness to examine and taste Tarious samples from these cargoes. I have also visited Ceylon and nearly all of the tea growing countries of the orient ori-ent to observe the mode of putting up. the tea. It is astonishing the way they manage it adulterate it over there. The packers are so skillful that they slip in a great deal of inferior tea and work it off under good brands. This makes the merchants who afterward handle it complain. Packages of tea of a certain brand will be found all that could be desired, while other packages bearing the same brand and in the same cargo will be highly adulterated. As this tea is very costly, there is need of experts to examine it. They must be good ones, for everything depends for the time being be-ing on their judgment. A taster can only taste a few hours at a time, when he is weakened and ha3 to take a rest. Besides this, when he begins a job of tasting, he must take special pains to get himself in shape for it. I was about six weeks getting myself ready for examining exam-ining some cargoes in the warehouses here for the government Before I began be-gan I did not taste intoxicants in any form and did not even smoke. At the same time I was careful not to eat strong peppers or spices, or, in fact, anything that could distort the taste. One must be in as perfect condition, in order to properly judge of the teas he tastes, as a horse is when prepared for the Derby. He must be at his best and must feel that he is. The best tea tasters of the country make enormous sums, considering consider-ing the time employed; $10,000 a year is a low sum, and oftentimes from $20,- 000 to $30,000 is made, and even more. 1 know a man in the business who made $50, 000. It all depends on his standing, the number of times he is called as a taster and what he can endure." San Francisco Examiner. |