136 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



taken. In the preparation it is not subjected so severely to the 

 action of heat as the o'.her classes of Tea, and generally preserves a 

 uniform greenish grey or silvery grey tint. Its strength in liquor is 

 very great, flavour more approaching that of Green Teas, but infi- 

 nitely superior, having the strength and astringency, without the 

 bitterness of the green descriptions. The liquor is pale, similar to 

 that of Green Tea, and the infused leaf is of a uniform green hue. In 

 many instances where too much heat has been employed, we find 

 dark leaves intermixed, and the prevailing colour, green, is sprinkled 

 with leaves of a salmony brown tinge, which is the proper colour 

 for the out-turn of any other ordinary black leaf Tea. A very 

 common mistake is to call an ordinary Pekoe that may contain an 

 extra amount of Pekoe ends, Flowery Pekoe. When this class of 

 Tea is strong and of Flowery Pekoe flavour, it is called by the trade 

 a Pekoe of Flowery Pekoe kind. In England Flowery Pekoe sells,. 

 as a rule, from 4>f. 6d. to 6s. 6d. per Ib. One parcel has sold as high 

 as yj. 6d. 



By many people the expediency of making Flowery Pekoe 

 is much doubted. The true Flowery Pekoe leaf is the one un- 

 developed bud at the end of each twig. To pick this alone, without 

 any ordinary Pekoe leaves, involves a great deal of trouble and 

 expense, and I think though the Flowery Pekoe be very valuable, 

 that the account would hardly balance when we consider the 

 deterioration of the Pekoe by the abstraction of the young leaves. 



The ordinary Pekoe is a Tea of blackish or greyish blackish 

 aspect, but dotted over with greyish or yellowish leaves which, on 

 close inspection, will be found to possess the downy appearance which 

 gives the name to Pekoe. In general we do not find the whole 

 leaf covered with down, but only part of it, which in its growth has 

 been developed later than the other parts. These are called by the 

 trade * Pekoe ends ' when very small Pekoe tips. A Pekoe is 

 generally of good to fine flavour, and very strong, and its liquor dark. 

 Its value is from 2s. yd. to 3^. &/. per Ib. 



When the Pekoe ends are of yellowish or orange hue, and the 

 leaf is very small and even, the Tea is called Orange Pekoe. In 

 flavour it is much the same as an ordinary Pekoe, and many growers 

 do not separate the two varieties, but send them away in the finished 

 state mixed together. Its value is from 2d. to 4^. per Ib. more than 

 Pekoe. 



The term Pekoe Souchong is generally applied to a Pekoe that is 



