262 jiccount of the Tea Tree. 



To make lohea tea sreen. 

 For this purpose coarse Ankoy tea is generally taken : 

 the leaves should be large. (Ankoy is wo other than the 

 tea tree from the bohea country propaa'ated at Ankoy.) 

 Take ten catty of this tree, spread it, and sweat the leaves 

 by throwing water over them, either hot or cold, or tea 

 water. When the leaves are a little opened and somewhat 

 dry put them into a hot tatche, together with a small quan- 

 tity of powdered chico, a fat stone, and tatche them well, 

 then sift the tea, and it is done. If it happens not to be 

 green enough tatche it again. It is the frequent tatching 

 that gives the green colour to the tea leaves. 



To make gree?}. hohea. 



First water it to open the leaves, then put them in the 

 sun to dry a little, then tatche them once, and proceed to 

 cure them as hohea leaves, over a charcoal fire. This is 

 seldom done, because it is seldom worth doing, green tea 

 being generally the dearest : moreover, green tea does not 

 make so good bohea as bohea does green, 



Ho-ping tea, already described, and which is of the 

 bohea kind, after being cured as bohea, is sometimes 

 altered to green, and becomes like the leoo-ching before 

 rnentioned, and is S',;ld at Canton to foreigners for singlo. 



It is to be observed, that all these worked-up teas, as 

 they may be called, and teas of improper growths, are more 

 commonly mixed with true teas for the Europe market than 

 sold separate by themselves ; so that the proportions in 

 which they are mixed n)ake combinations without end. 

 The differences to be observed in teas arise from the soils. 

 The methods of curing owing to the skill of the curer, 

 sometimes to his caprice ; neglect in the curing ; using bad 

 fires; wood, and that green, instead of charcoal; some- 

 times straw or broom for bad teas ; and to the seasons, 

 which should not be too wet or too drv, too cold or loo 

 hot. The Chinese also sell at Canton all sorts of old leas 

 for new, after they have prepared them for that purpose, 

 either by tatching or firing, and mixing them with new 

 teas. 



Clean singlo tea is called Pi-cha, or skin tea. A custom 

 formerly prevailed to put 15 or 18 catties of vei-y bad singla 

 tea into ihe middle of a chest, which was covered on all 

 sides by good tea ; and this was done by the means of four 

 pieces of board nailed to each other, making four sides, or 

 a well for the chest, whereon good tea was spread, and also 

 witliin two inches of the top, was ttrawn out. The good 

 tea was called pi-cha, or the skin or covering to the bad, 



which 



