62 CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION. 



time curl or twist the leaves. During this process they 

 are frequently shaken out and passed from hand to hand 

 with a rapid motion, until they reach the head workman, 

 who examines them carefully to see if they have attained 

 the requisite twist, after which they are separated and 

 spread out in bamboo trays until the remainder have 

 undergone the same process. A second set of operatives 

 now collect them and turn them over and over, toss and 

 retoss them in the air to a considerable height, while a 

 third keeps fanning them in order that they may cool 

 more speedily and retain their curl longer, those contain- 

 ing the most sap curling quickest, tightest and retaining 

 it the longer. When the firing and curling operations are 

 completed, the leaves are again exposed to the action 

 of the air, so as to admit the passing away of the 

 expressed moisture and at the same time impart a crisp 

 appearance. 



When a sufficient quantity of leaves has been rolled 

 they are again placed in the Kuos y under which a slow 

 but steady charcoal fire has been kept burning and stirred 

 with a rapid motion by the hands of the Saihoo until 

 they become thoroughly dried and the green color per- 

 manently fixed, that is, until there is no longer any dan- 

 ger of them turning black. At this stage the leaves are 

 of a dull-green color, becoming brighter as they cool, in 

 which state they are termed by the Chinese Mao-cha or 

 '* Cat tea." The next and last process consists of win- 

 nowing or passing the leaves through sieves of varying 

 sizes to free them from stems, dust and other extraneous 

 matter, and separate them into the different kinds of 

 Green Tea known to commerce. After which they are 

 again refired, the coarser leaves once and the finer grades 

 three to four times in order to bring out the color more 

 fully and make them retain their curl longer. In the 



