SORTING. 139 



We will now look at Black Teas in a body, and point out what is 

 desirable and what is objectionable in them. 



We have seen that all Teas which contain Pekoe fetch higher 

 prices than others, consequently we infer that Pekoe is a desideratum. 

 If we glance at the descriptions of the various classes of Tea which 

 have been given above, we shall find that it is an element of strength 

 and good flavour. I do not mean to say that any Pekoe is stronger 

 or of better flavour than any Tea which does not contain Pekoe, as 

 the soil, the climate, the cultivation, the manufacture, and various 

 other causes, may influence the strength and flavour of different 

 Teas ; but, as a rule, in Teas that are produced under the same cir- 

 cumstances, the classes containing Pekoe are stronger and of better 

 flavour than those without it. 



There is another class of Tea which I have not yet described 

 that possesses very great strength and very fine flavour. This is the 

 class known as the ' Namuna ' kind. All readers of these pages 

 who have been connected with India any time will recognise the 

 word, 1 though they may not quite see how it comes to occupy the 

 position in which we consider it. It is said that its first application 

 in this manner arose from a planter having sent to England some 

 sample boxes of Tea with the ticket ' namuna ' on them. These 

 Teas happened to be of the peculiar description which now goes by 

 that name, and which I proceed to describe. The London Brokers 

 have always since then applied the name ' namuna' to this class of Tea. 

 The leaf may have perhaps the ordinary greyish blackish aspect, 

 with generally a greenish tinge. In the pot it produces a very pale 

 liquor, but on tasting it its quality belies the poor thin appearance of 

 the infusion. It is very strong, stronger by far than ordinary Pekoe ; 

 in flavour say about half way between a Flowery Pekoe and a Green 

 Tea, quite distinct from the Flowery Pekoe flavour, possessing some- 

 what of the rasping bitterness of the Green Tea class with the flavour 

 a little refined. The out-turn is generally green, sometimes has some 

 brownish leaves mixed. Any of the black leaf Teas may be of this 

 class from the Pekoe to the lowest dust, and all throughout the scale, 

 if the flavour be distinct and pure, may have their value enhanced 

 from 4*/. to io*/. per Ib. 



Similar in every respect, except one, is the Oolong kind. The 

 one wanting quality is the strength, sometimes, by-the-by, the flavour 



1 I need hardly remark that the Hindustani word Namuna (pronounced 

 Nemoona) means sample. 



