30 TEA 



purpose, and rarely give themselves any trouble to 

 ascertain whether the information they communicate 

 be true or false." It was thus definitely proved that the 

 differences in the teas reaching this country were not 

 due to specific differences in the tea plants, but were 

 produced as a result of differences in methods of 

 manufacture. 



TEA IN JAPAN 



The success which has attended the efforts of 

 Indian and Ceylon planters to oust China teas from 

 some of the most important of the world's markets 

 is one of the most striking facts in the history of the 

 tea trade. Up to the present, however, the British 

 planter has made comparatively little impression upon 

 the volume of the Japanese export trade in tea, and in 

 the United States and Canada the product of Japan 

 holds a position which appears to be very secure, while 

 certain grades have earned a reputation which cannot 

 readily be shaken. Within recent years considerable 

 attention has been paid by British growers to the Japanese 

 tea industry, and several reports have been issued as a 

 result of investigations carried out on the spot. Japanese 

 teas may be divided into four classes : (1) Hikacha or 

 Yenrha. a powdered tea of high quality used only on 

 ceremonial occasions ; (2) Green tea, subdivided into 

 Gyokuro (" pearly dew,") and Sencha, the latter being 

 inferior to Gyokuro in quality, but constituting the bulk 

 of the tea drunk by the people ; (3) Bancha, consisting 

 of the previous year's leaves mixed with withered 

 stalks and chopped twigs ; (4) Oolong and Black tea. 

 With regard to the Black teas it is interesting to note 

 that comparatively little is produced in Japan, since 

 for some reason not sufficiently understood, but probably 

 due to imperfect methods, the native leaf does not 



