53 



TEA AND THE TEA TRADE. 



TEA AND THE TEA TRADE. 



mercial discouragements, Lave brought their affairs into a healthy con- 

 dition. They now own 4000 acres of land, which yielded 1,000,000 Ibs. 

 of tea in the year 1860. This tea, selling in England (wholesale, and 

 minus the duty) at an average of about 2s. per lb., is strong, coarse, 

 harsh, and astringent, and is considered to be well fitted for mixing 

 with China tea, which is mostly of weaker quality. There is another 

 company, and there are many private individuals, also cultivating tea 

 in Asam. Still more important are the operations which the India 

 government has for several years been conducting in the North- West 

 provinces, under the able management of Dr. W. Jameson. Begun on a 

 small scale in 1835, they have now become very extensive. In 1859 

 the government tea plantations in Kumaon, Ourhwal, Deyra Dhoon, 

 and the Kangra Valley comprised 2250 acres and seven factories. The 

 Bohea variety is that chiefly cultivated. The government established 

 these tea plantations with a view to the making of experiments, 

 and the encouragement of companies and private speculators ; and a 

 liberal transmission of seeds and young plants is granted to beginners. 

 Land fit for the tea-culture is also granted by the government on very 

 liberal terms ; and of such land there is believed to be not less than 

 a million acres in the North- West provinces alone. The experience of 

 1859 showed that a handsome profit is derivable from the culture; 

 and numerous persons are embarking in the enterprise. Many of 

 these persons are military officers lately in the East India Company's 

 service, who find the healthy climate of the hill districts suitable at 

 once to themselves and their families, and to the tea-culture. 



Tea-curing and ['st. Whether obtained from one species only of 

 the genus Then, or from several, all the tea of China is in commerce 

 brought under two distinct terms, yreen tea and black tea. These are 

 also distinguished as hyion and bohea. The European name tea is 

 borrowed from the common language of the province Fu-kian (Fokien 

 of D'Anville), where this article is called Tia in their patois : at Canton 

 it is called Tscha or T.schai. Black tea is called He-tscha, green tea 

 Lo-tscha. The sub varieties owe their names to other circumstances, 

 the number of which is endless. Thus there occur in the catalogues 

 of the Chinese merchants at least one hundred and fifty names, many 

 of which are synonymes of other sorts, or names invented to impose 

 on foreigners and obtain a high price. The distinguished Oriental 

 scholar, Klaproth, gives a list of about forty genuine varieties, with an 

 explanation of the terms applied to them. Thus Pak-ho, corrupted 

 into Pekoe, merely means " white down," being the first sprouts, or 

 yet hairy leaf-buds of young plants, three years old, after their first 

 flowering. With us it is applied only to a black tea ; but it is equally 

 applicable to a green tea, which is never brought to Europe, as it is so 

 delicate and slightly fired as to spoil by the least damp. 



Though it ia stated that black tea may be cured as green tea, and 

 green tea as black, the green being cured without fermentation to 

 which black tea is always subjected, certain it is that the preparation 

 of the respective kinds is carried on in different parts of the empire 

 and a different practice pursued with the leaves from the first stage. 

 In the green teas the leaves only are taken, being nipped off above the 

 foot-stalk or petiole, while of the black teas the foot-stalk ia always 

 collected. " Thus black tea contains much of the woody fibre, while 

 the green is exclusively the fleshy part of the leaf itself ; which is on 

 good reason why it should be dearer." (Davis's ' China,' u , p. S51.) 

 Besides this, the constant removal of the young leaf-buds, by which the 

 plant is prevented from being clothed with full grown leaves, which 

 alone can elaborate the sap and contribute to the further growth of the 

 shrub, causes it to perish earlier, and compels a more frequent renewal 

 of the plantations. Indeed some cultivators restrict the gathering of 

 the leaves to two harvest*, instead of three, to save their plants. Those 

 of the third gathering are Urge and coarse, and often so rigid that they 

 cannot be rolled. This yidds a tea so inferior in quality that it U con- 

 Burned only by the poorest of the natives, or, when very bad, is, as are 

 Home of the finer kinds when spoiled, used for dyeing. 



Such are the pains taken to ensure the excellence of the finest sorts 

 of green tea, that for two or three weeks before the harvest commences 



Hectors, who are trained to this business from a very early Age 



'.d from eating fiah or other kinds of food reckoned 



unclean, lest by their breath they should contaminate the leaves 



They are also made to take a bath two or three times a day and not 



lllowsd to gather the leaves with the naked fingers, but always with 



glo.es. The finest tea may, if the proper time for gathering it be 



neglected, be changed into an inferior tea in one night. It is necessary 



to roast the leaves the same evening that they are collected, for if kept 



the following day they ferment, become black, and lose much of 



thir virtue. Previous to putting them into the iron pans or furnaces 



wlii! -h ar heated by charcoal, they are dipped for about half a minute 



iling water. About half or three-quarters of a pound of leaves 



re put. int. i tli.- pan at once, and diligently stirred, to prevent them 



from being burnt. They are then removed with a shovel and thrown 



'U or into baskets ; and while yet hot the soft leaves are rolled 

 between the palms of the hands, duriug which operation a quantity 

 "f rcllowfeb green juice exudes from them. This process of roasting 

 and rolling is often repeated even to the sixth or seventh time. This 

 method u called the <tr;i m,y . but by the met ;/ the leaves are first 

 exposed to the vapour of boiling wati-r, after which they are rolled and 

 dried on the iron pans like the others. Leaves prepared in the wet 

 way have a bright green colour ; those by the dry, a dark green verging 



to brown. From the green tea, when prepared in the dry way, less of 

 the above-mentioned juice exudes, a circumstance to which the 

 greater strength of green tea is in some degree owing. The larger 

 leaves are generally selected to be prepared in the wet way. By the 

 process of roasting the leaves lose two-thirds of their weight so that 

 three pounds of fresh leaves dry into one pound of tea fit for preserva- 

 aon It is by the process of roasting that the flavour is first developed 

 the leaves when fresh being as insipid as the bean of coffee before heat 

 is applied. Siebold is of opinion that the agreeable violet-like flavour 

 of tea is inherent in the leaves themselves ; but most writers ascribe 

 ifferent flavours of the choicer kinds of tea to the admixture of 

 3 flowers, leaves, or oils of a variety of different plants. The chief of 

 these are the Olea fragrant, CMoranthm inconspicuus, Gardenia florida 

 Aglaia odorata, ifof/arium (Jaminum) Sambac, Vitex fpicata, Camellia 

 Sasanqua, and C. oleifera, HKtium amsatum, Magnolia Yidau, and the 

 Rosa, Jndica odoratissima, as well as the root of the Iris flarentma, and 

 urcuma longa or turmeric, and the oil of Bi:ea Orcttana. The Chinese 

 annually dry many millions of pounds of the leaves of different plants 

 to mingle with the genuine, such as those of ash, plum, &c. ; so that 

 the spurious leaves found in parcels of bad tea must not be sup- 

 posed to be introduced into them by the dealers in this country 

 hile the tea trade was entirely in the hands of the East India Com- 

 pany, few of these adulterated teas were shipped for this country, as 

 experienced and competent inspectors with large salaries were kept at 

 Canton, to prevent the exportation of such in the Company's ships ; 

 but since the trade has been opened, all kinds find a ready outlet ; and, 

 the demand often exceeds the supply, a manufactured article is 

 furnished to the rival crews. 



The object of the drying and rolling is both to diminish the bulk 

 and to enable the leaves to preserve their flavour. No tea is thought 

 b for use till it is a twelvemonth old ; and the rich and luxurious 

 Chinese keep the fine tea in jars, made of the finest porcelain, some of 

 which are thought to communicate an additional aroma to the tea, and 

 all of which have very narrow mouths (as may be observed in those 

 brought to Europe, and sold at a high price), to retain the peculiar 

 odour. If the tea contracts damp, it U taken out and roasted again. 



To make the infusion, the Chinese pour boiling water on a small 

 portion of the leaves ; they do not allow it to stand or macerate, as is 

 done in England, but instantly pour it off again, by which they obtain 

 only the more volatile and stimulating portion "of its principles. The 

 poorer Chinese indeed boil the very inferior and coarse leaves, which 

 alone are within their reach, and drink the decoction repeatedly duriug 

 the day. This is done not only to extract such virtues as the tea 

 possesses, but to qualify the water, seeing that little good drinking 

 water is met with in China. Travellers find a supply of tea a very 

 valuable accompaniment on long journeys, as it improves the most 

 brackish waters. The exciting effects of fresh tea are such that it is 

 rarely used till it has been kept twelve months, as already stated ; and 

 where indulged in, it produces great mental excitement. This property 

 is diminished by repeated roastings, but as green tea is less exposed to 

 heat than black, it retains more of this power. Besides, the green tea 

 for exportation undergoes some process, which changes its colour, 

 giving it a bluish-green hue. The Chinese themselves do not consume 

 those kinds of green tea which are prepared for exportation. It is 

 altogether a mistake to suppose that the colour of green tea is owing 

 to its being dried on copper pans, as none such are used, and the most 

 searching chemical analysis is unable to detect a trace of copper unless 

 as a constituent of the vegetable. 



The subject of the adulteration of tea has occupied a large amount 

 of attention within the last few years. Irrespective of any adultera- 

 tion, however, the value of tea varies enormously, according to its 

 delicacy and aroma. Mr. Wray, when at Malacca, had a small quantity 

 ' Mandarin tea " given to him by some Chinese merchants ; it is a 

 kind never sold to foreigners, but commands 50. per lb. in China 

 The vast bulk of tea used by the Chinese is of poor quality; 

 and much of the poorest is mixed to adulterate the better kinds for 

 the English market. Mr. Wray estimates that the Chinese consume 

 2,000,O.JO,000 Ibs. of tea annually, more than ten times as much as 

 they sell to all other countries. |When the English te*a trade with 

 China was wholly conducted by the East India Company, it is believed 

 that the sophistication mostly took place after the tea reached the 

 hands of other dealers ; but now the Chinese adulterate it themselves. 

 Mr. Wray states that seven-eighths of all the tea shipped from China 

 in 1859 was adulterated; this was publicly announced at a meeting of 

 merchants, held in Canton in April, 1859, to consider the subject. 

 Ilie adulterants were found to be : spent tea-leaves from some of thn 

 provinces, unsound leaf from others, and three or four sorts of plants. 

 When brought to this country, the tea sold at a (nominally) low price 

 in the poorer neighbourhoods, undergoes a still further process of 

 adulteration. This is proved, not only by the analyses of Drs Hassell 

 and Letheby, and others, but also by the Excise seizures which so fre- 

 quently occur. All admit that imitations of good tea can be produced 

 by very easy means; and this facility offers a perilous temptation to 

 dishonest persons. ~ 



Tf<i Trade. The period when tea was first introduced into this 

 country has slready been noticed. The first importation by the English 

 East India Company took place in 1669, from the Company's factory 

 at Bantam. The directors ordered their servants to " send home by 



