SORTING. 143 



Hyson skin, sell at $d. to 6d. per Ib. in London. It would be well if 

 some of the Indian planters would take a lesson from the Chinese, 

 and not send home their very low Teas, black or green, as they are 

 very difficult of sale in London, and in many cases cannot pay the 

 cost of packing and shipping. The Chinese make a great quantity 

 of their broken Teas into Brick Tea, and send it into the Central 

 Provinces of Asia, where it meets with a ready sale. I do not see 

 why this should not be done by the Indian growers. There is a 

 large consumption of Tea on the other side of the Himalayas, not 

 very far from Darjeeling and Assam. I hear also that in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the growing districts, especially the North-west Pro- 

 vinces, the natives are beginning to consume largely, and will pay 

 8 as. to i Rupee for a Tea that could not possibly fetch more than 

 *.r. to is. 6d. per Ib. in England. Whether the natives of India, as a 

 whole, do or do not take to drinking Tea, will have a material effect 

 on the future prospects of the article. 



Before dropping the subject of Green Teas, I will say a word or 

 two as to the expediency of making Green Tea. I have questioned 

 several experienced people on the subject, but none can tell me 

 their especial object in manufacturing their leaf into Green Tea. 

 One gentleman told me that he thought that it was because their 

 Tea-makers (Chinamen) knew better how to make greens than 

 blacks. I have carefully examined the leaf of several of the North- 

 west Green Teas, and noticing their English sale prices, consider 

 that they would have sold on the average at least 3-r/. per Ib. higher 

 had they been made into Black Tea. The best way to test this 

 would be to have a Green and a Black Tea made from the same leaf, 

 and then to value the one against the other. I regret that I have 

 never had the opportunity of doing this. We notice that the largest 

 and most experienced producers never make Green Tea. l 



I must not pass over Caper without a short description. It is a 

 Tea which is made in large quantity in China, though I have only 

 seen one parcel of Indian growth. It forms a link between the black 

 and green descriptions. The colour of the leaf is a very dark green ; 

 in form it is similar to a gunpowder, Imperial, or round leaf Congou. 

 The liquor is pale, and the out-turn green ; flavour perhaps nearer 

 to that of a green than of a Black Tea. 



1 Note to third edition. As previously stated in foot-note page 131, Green 

 Teas are now but little used in Great Britain. 



