CHIN Av 



323 



Natural 

 History. 



The diffe- 

 rent kinds 

 of tea. 



B'ack tea. 



drecn tea. 



stances, a species of moss particularly, which grows upon 

 the roclu in the province of Shang-tong, is often mixed 

 with genuine tea^ and sold in its stead even in China. 



There are, in fact, only two kinds of tea, the green and 

 the black ; and all the rest are either mere combinations of 

 these two in different proportions, or are simple varieties 

 produced by difference of soil, of culture, and of gather., 

 ing. 



The black teas are generally brought from the pro- 

 vince of Fo-kien. Of those the most common is the 

 bony, or rather vouy, as the Chinese pronounce it, 

 or b .hea, as it is more generally called. It takes its 

 name from a celebrated mountain in the province of Fo- 

 kien, called Vouy, which is covered with pleasure-hou- 

 ses, temples, and hermitages of the Bonzes. When of 

 a good quality, this tea should have a colour of a black 

 cast, leaves of a moderate size, a little rounded in their 

 shape, and a little reddish in their hue. If it resists, and 

 as it were pricks the hand upon being touched, it is a 

 proof of its being well dried ; but if it breaks, and 

 crumbles into powder, it is then too old, or too much 

 roasted. The water, in which it is infused, should have 

 a. deep yellow colour, and a taste not over austere. It 

 is more esteemed by the Chinese than the green tea, and 

 is accounted lighter, sweeter, and a better stomachic. 

 It H old from 12 to 15 taels per pic. The congo, or 

 rather cong-foo, is only a finer kind of bohea ; and its 

 infusion is of a lighter colour, inclining to green. Its 

 odour, however, is seldom so agreeable. It costs from 

 25 to 27 taels per pic. The saotchong, or sushong, is 

 one >>f the finest kinds of black tea ; and its leaves, after 

 being unfolded in the water, should be free from spots. 

 It communicates a delicate greenish tinge to the water, 

 in which it is infused, and has a very agreeable odour. 

 It is sold from 4-0 to 50 taels per pic. The pekao is the 

 mildest sort of black tea, and said to be the least heat 

 ing in its effects. It gives a light greenish tinge to the 

 water, and has a sweet violet smell. It is sold from 34 

 to 60 taels per pic. There are alto other black teas, na- 

 med campouy, pao-tchong, and ankay, the last of which 

 is a coarse tea from Kiangnan, which is seldom exported 

 to Europe. The Padre sushong, or the Poo-eul-tcha, 

 fo called from a village of that name in the province of 

 Kiang-nan, is gathered from tea plants, which are al- 

 lowed to attain their greatest natural size, and which arc 

 ery tall and bushy. The leaves of this tea are long 

 and thick, not shrivelled like the other teas, but packed 

 up in masses like tobacco, and sold at a high price. It 

 gives a reddish tinge to the watiT, and has less fla- 

 vour than other kinds. Osbeck calls it the best tea that 

 can be drunk, while De Guignes speaks of it as having 

 a sweetish taste, and in no respect agreeable. It is em- 

 ployed chiefly, he adds, as a remedy in colics and diar- 

 rhoeas, and has the effect of stimulating the appetite. 

 The mao-tcha, or imperial tea, sometimes called bing, 

 which is reserved chiefly for the use of the Emperor, 

 is composed of the tender leaves, which are collected 

 from the young plants of the bohea. Its leaves are large, 

 and of a beautiful green colour. It communicates a 

 green tinge to the water, and has a slight smell of soap. 



The green teas art produced chiefly in the province of 

 Kiang-nan ; and are conjectured by Osbeck to be natu- 

 rally the same as the black ; but tu derive their peculiar 

 colour cither from repeated dryings, or from b ing ex- 

 posed to the heat upon plates of copper, while the other 

 are laid upon plates of iron ; a proof of which he finds 

 in the circumstance of green tea having a tendency to 

 occasion purging, while the black has rather an oppo- 

 site effect. The principal green teas, are the Songlo, 



which is so named from a mountain in Kiang-nan, under Natural 

 the 30 of north latitude, which is covered with tea v^!' 01 ^ 

 shrubs. Its leaves are longer and more pointed than- *"V 

 those of the black tea, and they ought to be of a bright 

 colour without spots. It is of an inferior quality when 

 its leaves are yellow, or its smell like that of pilchards. 

 Its appearance should be livid, and its infusion green. 

 It is considered as of a corrosive nature ; and is sold 

 from 24 to 26 taels per pic. The hay-suen, or hyson, 

 which, when of a good quality, is of a livid colour, tin- 

 ging the water with a lively green. Its leaves are bright 

 without spots, and entirely unrolled after infusion. It 

 has a slight odour of roasted chesnuts ; is considered as 

 very heady ; and is sold from 50 to 60 tads per pic. 

 The tchu-tcha, which is rolled up with the hand in a 

 round form like a pea, and a smaller kind of which is 

 that called gunpowder tea, is sold from 65 to 70 taek 

 per pic. There are other green teas, the Tonkay, the 

 Hay-suen-skin, the Shulan, and several sorts, which are 

 little known even at Canton ; but in these distinctions, 

 says De Guignes, there prevails no small degree of quack- 

 ery. There is a kind called Kael-tclia, which is merely 

 the refuse of all the other kinds mixed together, and 

 which is chiefly sold to the Mogul Tartars, a people who, 

 from eating great quantities of raw flesh, are much afflict- 

 ed with indigestion, when they do not make use of tea ; 

 and who, in regard to that article, are not remarkably 

 delicate in their taste. 



The manner of proving the finer teas, is to put a small Mode of 

 quantity into a cup, to pour on it pure spring water at P rov > n 

 the full boiling heat, to place the saucer abuve the cup, 

 filling it also with boiling water to increase the heat, 

 and, after a sufficient time has elapsed for the leaves to 

 unfold themselves, to examine their appearance, and the 

 colour of the infusion. In China, the common tea is pre- Preserving, 

 served in narrow-mouthed earthen vessels, but the finer 

 sorts are inclosed in porcelain vessels, lead or tin canis- 

 ters, covered with fine bamboo matting ; and the people, 

 both of that country and of Japan, generally keep their 

 tea till it be a year old before using, as they conceive it 

 to possess too much of a narcotic quality when new. In And usinj 

 using tea, the Chinese generally pour boiling water on it tea> 

 as is done in Europe, and drink it without milk or sugar ; 

 but in many places, both in China and Japan, the tea is 

 reduced to a fine powder, and placed in a vessel upon the 

 table, the cups are filled with boiling water, a teaspoon 

 full of the powder thrown into each cup is then stirred 

 about till the liquor begin to foam, when it is drunk off 

 while quite warm. A general rule among the Chinese 

 also, is not to drink tea when fasting, as it is then more 

 ready to affect the nerves, and to create giddiness, espe- 

 cially in persons of a spare habit of body. 



The tea shrub is cultivated only in China and Japan, Attempts 

 and is supposed to be indigenous to one or both of these to intr o- 

 countries. The attempts to introduce the plant into V 1 

 Europe have repeatedly failed, chiefly it is supposed from ; nto g u " 

 the bad state of the seeds. It is recommended by those, rope, 

 who have resided in China, to procure the seeds fresh, 

 ripe, and white ; to inclose them in wax after having 

 dried them well in the sun, or to shut them up in their 

 husks in a box made of tin, or rather to sow fresh seeds 

 in boxes of fine light earth immediately upon leaving 

 Canton, covering them with wire to keep off rats and 

 other vermin ; to preserve them carefully from the sea- 

 dew ; to water them gently now and then with fresh or 

 with rain water ; and, when the shoots begin to appear, 

 to shelter them from the sun, and keep them slightly 

 moist. But it may be questioned whether the tea plant 

 could be cultivated, and the tea prepared in any European 



