t2(> Ol'servations on Tecr. 



lust is the most abundant; but it gives tea of less valuc^ 

 which is consunied by the comnjon people. 



'I'he tiaot the first quality, or Ion tea, which the Japanese 

 call also fieki-tsjaa, is pounded and reduced to a fine pow- 

 der, which is intused m boiling water. The quality of it 

 varies according to the ?oil, the climate, and the age of the 

 shrubs which have produced it. 



Tea of the second crop, called Chinese tea, and also toO" 

 tsjaa, is generally distinguished into four classes, in regard 

 to thedifl'erent degrees ol goodness. 



That of the third, which they call han-tsjaa, composed of 

 older and harder leaves, and prepared v. ilh less care, has 

 also its different degrees of value. When the tea-harvest is 

 ended, it is celebrated by public festivals and amusements. 



The most esteemed tea of Japan, according to Kempfer, 

 grows in the envTrons of the small town of Udsi, situated in 

 the neighbourhood of the sea: in that district is a celebrated 

 niounlain, which is entirely employed for the cultivation of 

 that used by the emperor. This mountain, which has a 

 beautiful and picturesque appearance, is surrounded by a 

 broad ditch, to prevent men and animals from having any 

 access to it. The plantations are laid out by the line, 

 arranged in a manner exceedingly agreeable to the eye, and 

 the shrubs are waslied and cleaned every dav. While the 

 leaves are collecting, the men emploved in that operation 

 bathe two or three times every day, and wear gloves when 

 they pick the leaves, to prevent them from being dirtied. 

 When the leaves have been torrified and properly prepared, 

 they are shut up in vessels of great value, ai^d conveyed with 

 much pomp to the emperor's palace. 



Tea is prepared in public edifices, which are provided with 

 the necessary apparatus. Some pounds of the leaves, fresh 

 gathered, are put into a kind of pan, made of thin iron plate, 

 broad but not deep, of a circular or square form, and heated 

 by means of a stove destined for that purpose, and of which 

 a description may be seen m Kcmpfer. They are stirred 

 and rapidly turned with the hands, that they may be torri- 

 iied in as uniform a manner as possible ; and the operation is 

 continued until they emit a sort of crackling noise on the 

 plate. The heat, by depriving thein of their juices, destroys 

 that intoxicating and noxious tjualily which they naturally 

 possess. They must be torriiied when exceedingly fresh, 

 because if kept some days they would become black and 

 lose their valut . The heat of the pan ought to be so great 

 as scarcely to admit of its being touched with the hand. 

 In China the leaves are immersed in boiling water for half a 



ininute 



