190 TESTING, BLENDING AND PREPARING. 



the proportions in the best and most advantageous man- 

 ner, and not risk the success of the combination by a 

 rough conjecture at the various quantities composing it. 

 The advantage of correctly weighing tea for blending is 

 not surpassed by that of selecting it in the first place, 

 and a blend should never, under any circumstances, have 

 its cost reduced by the introduction of a tea coarser or 

 rougher in leaf than that of the majority of the kinds 

 composing the mixture. Low-priced teas when used for 

 this purpose should be clean, plain and sweet, as a tea of 

 more pronounced character will stamp its own impres- 

 sion on the other teas instead of its being lost among 

 them, its coarse features standing out prominently, while 

 the superior qualities of the finer grades will be, if not 

 entirely obliterated, so marred as to be unrecognizable. 

 Whereas, if the blend is so arranged that the most pow- 

 erful tea is also the highest grade in it, the effect is that 

 all the other teas are elevated to its level. Teas should 

 on no account be ever blended in wet or damp weather, 

 as they have a natural susceptibility for absorbing moist- 

 ure and all surrounding odors. After blending, they 

 should be immediately replaced in the original lead-lined 

 package and covered, or in tightly-covered cans, to 

 exclude the air and protect them from the weather, and 

 then allowed to stand from a week to ten days in order 

 to let them assimilate and unite their opposite qualities. 



In China, where tea has been in use from time im- 

 memorial, and where it not only forms the regular 

 beverage of the people but also administers to the 

 luxury of the epicure, it is generally prepared in the 

 cup. The tea service consists of large porcelain cups 



