402 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



According to this account, the export of tea from Japan 

 during the year ending May 31, 1872, amounted to over fif- 

 teen millions of pounds, of which only 2688 pounds were sent 

 to Europe, all the rest coming to the United States, and show- 

 ing the importance of a trade which is increasing every year. 

 It is stated that the tea-plant in Japan is propagated from 

 seeds only, and matures for picking in three years. The first 

 picking commences in April, when the leaves are most tender, 

 and continues throughout May and June, but the leaves are 

 then less valuable. 



The leaves are dried on furnaces, and subjected to the usu- 

 al manipulation, after which they are sifted and classified for 

 the market. Each variety of tea is then shaken together to 

 round ofi"the corners, and the dust is separated, when the tea 

 is packed in boxes and carried to market. 



For the American market the tea is always refired before 

 shipment, this being done by placing the tea in iron pans over 

 a strong charcoal fire, constantly stirring it, for f<^'ty-five to 

 sixty minutes. This process gives the so-called " toasty fla- 

 vor" and the "greenish color," both of which, with a great 

 increase of dust and broken leaf, are obtained at the expense 

 of that delicate and rich flavor which the tea had after the 

 country manipulation. 



In the opinion of Mr. Shepard, the American charge in Ja- 

 pan, all this refiring is unnecessary for the voyage to Ameri- 

 ca, or, at least, an extra firing at the first preparation would 

 answer the purpose, and he is quite positive that the prepa- 

 ration in question is a serious injury to the quality of the tea 

 as a beverage. The greenish color demanded in the Ameri- 

 can market is not an essential to the tea, and is only obtained 

 by strong firing and stirring in pans, or by an admixture of 

 indigo, plaster of Paris, and soap-stone, such as the Chinese 

 teas are treated with. 



The best Japan tea, in its pure state, is a long twisted leaf, 

 with but little dust or broken leaves in it, and of a brownish 

 green, rather than a yellowish or grayish green. It is fur- 

 ther stated that tea has been used in China, Japan, and Corea 

 more than a thousand years, the first foreign export being to 

 Holland early in the seventeenth century, and to England 

 about 1660. 



The very finest teas of Japan are wholly grown by the 



