CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION. 63 



PREPARATION OF BLACK TEAS. 



The leaves undergo the same process of evaporation 

 and fermentation as with the green, but for a much longer 

 period. They are spread out thinly on large mats and 

 allowed to lie in this condition for at least twenty-four 

 hours, after which they are gathered up and thrown in 

 the air and allowed to fall back again in order to separate 

 them. They are next turned and returned for a consid- 

 erable time, being slightly beaten or patted with the 

 hands meantime until they become soft and pliable, when 

 they are again heaped and allowed to lay in this state for 

 about an hour, and when examined, at the end of this 

 time they are found to have undergone a slight change, 

 becoming darker in color, moist and flaccid in texture 

 and emitting a sweet, fragrant odor. At this stage they 

 are placed in the Kuos and fired for about five minutes, 

 rolled on bamboo tables and shaken out thinly on sieves 

 placed outside the " hong " and exposed to the oxidiz- 

 ing action of the atmosphere for about three hours, dur- 

 ing which the operatives are employed in going over the 

 sieves, turning and separating the leaves from each other. 



After the leaves have lost considerable sap and become 

 correspondingly reduced in size they are next removed 

 into the factory and placed a second time in the pans for 

 three or four minutes, rolled as before and put into tubu- 

 lar bamboo baskets, narrow in the middle and wide at 

 both ends, and suspended over charcoal fires for from 

 five to six minutes, during which they are carefully stirred 

 and watched until they begin to assume a dark color, the 

 operations of heating and twisting being repeated from 

 three to four times, the heat being gradually reduced at 

 each operation, and during which the operators make 

 holes with their hands through the centre of the leaves 

 in order to equally diffuse the heat and give vent to any 



