 Imported tea was required for decades to pass a literal taste test before it could be sold in the United States. Even Harry Reid, Democrat, when he was running the Senate, said, I see no reason why those in this country who enjoy drinking tea need someone else to tell them what tastes good. Yet for nearly 100 years, that is exactly what the government did, thanks to one of the strangest agencies ever to be a part of the federal bureaucracy. A hundred years.