178 TESTING, BLENDING AND PREPARING. 



will be found to amply repay the study and labor bestowed 

 on it. The chief and only difficulty existing in the art 

 lays in first finding a combination that will please a ma- 

 jority of your customers. The primary object and funda- 

 mental principle should be to obtain in a consolidated 

 form, harmony, strength, pungency, flavor and piquancy 

 and at the same time to effect these results with the small- 

 est possible outlay. To accomplish these results three 

 important points must be carefully studied : First, to 

 learn the taste of your customers ; second, to ascertain 

 what teas combine best to suit this taste; third, to find 

 out to what extent the component parts of a once adopted 

 and satisfactory blend may be varied in case of difficulty 

 to secure the same kind of teas for future use. These 

 results can be best secured only by proper selecting, 

 weighing, regulating and arranging the proportionate 

 quantities and different qualities in such a manner as to 

 obtain the best results at the smallest possible outlay. So 

 that before proceeding to produce a specific blend or 

 mixture the dealer must consider well the descriptions 

 which will combine satisfactorily and these that will not 

 unite harmoniously, as teas that are not improved are 

 certain to be deteriorated by blending. 



The chief art in successful tea-blending is to combine 

 body, strength and some particular and distinct flavor in 

 one, so as to please the majority of that portion of the pub- 

 lic for whom the tea is prepared, and at the same time so 

 arrange its constituent parts in such a manner that this 

 desirable result may be obtained at the smallest possible 

 outlay. To satisfactorily accomplish this object the 

 dealer must first learn to understand thoroughly the 

 taste of those for whom the tea is intended, and secondly, 

 to study what teas will combine best to please their 

 taste, as well as to know how far the component parts of 



