Three cups without names

An original literary non-fiction-style account of a tea-tasting session at a small shop.

I had already chosen the tea before the assistant reached for the tins. Its name was printed beneath a drawing of a mountain, and the price required me to stand up rather straight when I asked for it. I said that it was for guests. This was true, although the guests had never complained about the tea I normally served.

The assistant offered to prepare three small samples. I agreed until she suggested turning the labels away. I told her I wanted to know what I was drinking. She replied that she would show me everything afterwards. The suggestion seemed to turn a purchase into a test, and I was not confident that I would pass it.

Another customer at the counter said that there was no correct answer. He pointed to a cup he had left unfinished. It was apparently a tea the assistant particularly liked. She laughed and removed it without trying to persuade him. I put down my shopping bag and accepted the three cups.

Without the tins in front of me, I had to describe what I noticed. One cup left a dry feeling in my mouth. Another had a smell I could not name but wanted to return to. I asked the assistant for a fresh sip of that one after trying the third. She replaced the cup and waited while I drank it more slowly.

The mountain drawing belonged to the first sample. The tea I preferred was the one I had passed over because its tin looked ordinary. I bought a small amount. On the way home, I realised that I would now be able to tell my guests why I had chosen it without repeating a word from the label.

Explain why the narrator agrees to taste the teas without seeing their labels, despite initially resisting.