CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 79 



The dried leaf is dark greenish-yellow in color, evenly 

 and artistically curled, crisp and " crapy " in texture, 

 small, shapely, uniform, and green when infused, gener- 

 ally " tipped " with a brownish edge, the result of fer- 

 mentation. The liquor is bright, clear, and golden in 

 the cup, body round and mellow, ripe and rich and 

 aromatic in flavor. A really choice Formosa tea when 

 drawn will fill a room with a delightful aroma peculiar to 

 itself, difficult to describe, but variously pronounced as 

 "jessamine," "cowslip" or "primrose" odor, but still 

 totally unlike that of any other plant or flower in the 

 vegetable kingdom, having a " Formosa flavor " pure and 

 simple, attributed to the soil, and absorbed by the plants 

 during growth, and to preserve which it has to be con- 

 tinually cultivated in new places. Unlike other varieties 

 the later pickings of Formosa teas are heavier and 

 stronger than the earlier gatherings ; though sweet and 

 fragrant, are light-bodied and evanescent. The medium 

 and lower grades are dark-brown in color, somewhat 

 rough in style, not being as well cured or curled as the 

 finer sorts. The infusion is also darker in draw, fuller in 

 body, but not near as fragrant or aromatic in flavor, the 

 finer grades improving as it cools, the former deteriorating 

 under the same circumstances and revealing a slightly 

 " herby " taste. 



Formosa Oolongs are cultivated by native farmers 

 who have small gardens, some of whom do not raise 

 over one hundred pounds at a picking, but have from 

 three to five pickings in a season. Unlike other varieties, 

 the first picking of Formosa is the poorest, the second 

 crop being better and the last or autumn crop is best of 

 all. This inversion is due to climatic causes, the island 

 being visited with heavy rains during August, after which 

 the warm weather of September causes the plant to grow 



