CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 95 



Tartars and other tribes of Central Asia, among whom 

 it also serves as a currency. 



Tablet Tea Is a " new make " of tea recently intro- 

 duced in China, appearing for the first time in the trade 

 returns last year. It is prepared by machinery from the 

 best quality of tea-dust, formed by pressure alone into 

 small cakes in the form of tablets perfectly hard and 

 solid, resembling chocolate in make and appearance. It 

 is not, like " brick tea," moistened by steam before being 

 compressed, and the flavor is not in any way impaired by 

 the process of manufacture. One of the chief advantages 

 claimed for this form of tea is that, being subjected to 

 heavy hydraulic pressure, all the cells are broken and 

 the properties of the tea are more easily and com- 

 pletely extracted by the boiling water, thus effecting a 

 considerable saving in the quantity required for a given 

 amount of the beverage. Its principal market is Russia, 

 which took from China last year over 500,000 pounds 

 in the form of tablets. 



Medicine Tea Is prepared from the coarse leaves 

 and stems of the ordinary tea plant, ground and mixed 

 with medicinal herbs, packed in bundles and used for 

 medicinal purposes among Asiatic tribes. 



Log-tea Is also prepared from the ordinary teas of 

 commerce. It is a very inferior grade, prepared from the 

 stalks, packed in the shape of logs, weighing from 8 to 10 

 pounds, and wrapped in the leaves of the bambusa, and 

 packed in this manner from motives of economy and 

 freight. 



The total production of tea in China is unknown, and 

 can at best be only roughly estimated, and while we have 

 no certain means of ascertaining the quantity consumed 

 in that country itself, fair conclusion may be drawn from 

 the data at hand. Taking the population at 400 millions 



