BEVERAGE PLANTS 



237 



The tea plants are grown from seed and then transplanted 

 to their permanent growing place, where they become produc- 

 tive at three years of age, reaching full bearing at six and being 

 productive for fifty years or more. The yield varies from two 

 hundred to one thousand pounds of tea per acre annually. The 

 flavor and quality of tea depends upon a number of factors such 

 as the climate and soil of the growing region, age of the leaf, 

 time of picking, and method of preparing the leaves. Orange 

 PEKOE tea is prepared from the smallest leaves, successively 



Fig. 168. — Tea plant in blossom. 



larger grades of leaves yield teas known as pekoe, pekoe -sou- 

 chong, and SOUCHONG teas. In preparing green teas from these 

 leaves, they are allowed to remain in the sun until wilted, after 

 which they are rolled by hand or machine, and finally fire or 

 sun dried. Black teas are prepared by covering the rolled leaves 

 to keep them warm and moist, thus allowing them to undergo a 

 fermentation process after which they are dried in the usual way. 

 The fermentation changes both the color and flavor of the leaves. 

 Oolong tea, produced in Formosa, is intermediate between a 

 green and a black tea, being partially fermented. Although China 

 produces almost one half of the world's tea, very little of it is 



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