PUBLIC SALES, SAMPLING AND BUYING 75 



resistance, and give them a tea which pleases the palate. 

 It is quite possible, however, when a grocer has the 

 knowledge, to educate his customers to cultivate a taste 

 for a blend made up on individualistic ideas. The 

 palate soon gets used to the flavour of a particular tea, 

 and resents any change whatever, bs it good or bad. 

 It is therefore very important to maintain a perfectly 

 uniform flavour. By degrees, if any particular character 

 is aimed at, the buyers can be trained to like it, and then 

 they will accept no other. The process of palate educa- 

 tion has, however, to be very slowly carried out, but it 

 may be effected by adding slightly increased proportions 

 of flavouring tea from time to time. This is illustrated 

 in the case of Oolong. This peculiarly attractive tea 

 from Formosa, in careful hands, enhances considerably 

 the delicacy of a blend, but to add the full and correct 

 proportion at the outset would, in many cases, bring 

 complaints. If, however, a small quantity is at first 

 used, and increased by degrees, in subsequent blends, 

 \ it will have the effect of imperceptibly changing the tea, 

 \ and give it, what ought to be the ideal of every 

 i distributor, a distinctness of character. 



The younger generation of grocers has had little 

 opportunity of acquiring a thorough knowledge of tea, 

 but in these strenuous times, when competition is so 

 severe, it is increasingly important that the family 

 grocer should have a clear and certain perception of one 

 of the most interesting and absorbing trades in the 

 world. In the preceding pages, many and interesting 

 processes of manufacture in India, Ceylon, and China 

 have been dealt with ; the sales in the Mincing Lane 

 Market described, and now the question may be asked 

 by those who have had few chances of gaining a practical 

 knowledge of the tea trade How can a grocer, or grocer's 

 assistant, acquire sufficient information to enable him 



