Usage at 

 Ceremonials. 



CAMELLIA 



THBA THE TEA PLANT 



Manufacture 



" Wabo "), a wooden ramrod being used for the purpose. A stopper is 

 then made of jack or guava leaves, and the bamboos thus charged are 

 then kept in the shade for a couple of days with the stoppered ends 

 downwards to allow of any water there may be within to drain off. The 

 bamboos are not filled up quite to the top with letpet, and in the space thus 

 left ashes mixed with a little water are now filled in. The object of the 

 ashes is to prevent insects getting to the tea. The bamboos are now 

 buried underground till the letpet has matured and is required for sale. 

 If not buried the letpet becomes black and spoilt ; to be good it should 

 be of a yellowish colour. It is carried to market for sale in bamboo 

 baskets of open wicker-work (Jcyin) lined with leaves. The tea is taken 

 out of the bamboos, filled into the baskets, and pressed down tight so as 

 to prevent air injuring it. 



The above is the method in vogue west of the Irrawaddy. East of 

 that river the method seems to consist in steaming the leaf and then 

 rolling by hand. After this the leaves are allowed to cool and are then 

 deposited in a pit, lined with planks or bamboo matting, and covered 

 over and pressed down by heavy weights. The pit is not opened till a 

 purchaser turns up to buy the whole pitful, but when opened the letpet 

 tea is removed in bamboo crates. 



[It may be useful to amplify Dr. Mann's account of this tea 

 (above) by a few quotations and observations : The earliest mention 

 of it (apparently) is in Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies 

 (1688-1722, pub. 1727, ii., 62), where he says, " They never leave 

 mediating till there be a reconciliation, and, in Token of Friendship, 

 according to an ancient Custom there, they eat Champock from one 

 another's Hand, and this seals the Friendship. This Champock is Tea of 

 a very unsavoury Taste ; it grows, as other Tea does, on Bushes, and is in 

 use on such occasions all over Pegu." Crawfurd, Ferrars, Nisbet, etc., 

 all speak of its use at ceremonials. 



The account given by Mr. C. E. W. Stringer (Kew Bull, 1892, 221) 

 of the manufacture of Mieng or Lao Tea in Bangkok does not differ in 

 any material sense from the practice in Burma. These may therefore be 

 described as Siloed teas, and their chief peculiarity may be said to be that 

 they are eaten as a pickled vegetable and only rarely used as a beverage. 

 Crawfurd says the leaves are elliptic, oblong, and serrated like the Chinese 

 plant ; and the Burmese, not following the practice of other nations, 

 designate the latter by the native name of their own plant, Lap'het. There 

 is little doubt, therefore, but that it is a genuine Thea, and most probably 

 a native of the country. Crawfurd speaks of Wallich as his friend, and 

 yet at the very time indicated the latter disbelieved in tea being indigenous 

 in Assam. Crawfurd (Journ. to Ava, 1834, i., 199, 236 ; ii., 147, 214) says, 

 " The Burmese eat the leaf prepared with oil and garlic, and never use 

 the infusion as they do that of Chinese tea, which they call Lap'het-re, or 

 tea water." Ferrars (Burma, 1900, 65, 70, 72) speaks of pickled tea as 

 made by the hill tribes to the north. Nisbet (Burma Under Brit. Eule 

 and Before, i., 175, 446 ; ii., 191) observes, " In Upper Burma and the Shan 

 States a good deal of this tea is consumed as a drink, for which purpose 

 it is sold in a dry state. It is prepared by boiling it in an earthen kettle 

 and is drunk with salt. The greater bulk, however, is sold by the Mandalay 

 brokers to merchants in Lower Burma, where it is largely consumed it 

 the solid. The leaves are soaked in oil, a little garlic and dried fish, eto. 



236 



Lao Tea. 



Burmese eat 

 Tea. 



