CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 99 



in make, but still retaining all the properties of liquor and 

 flavor of a Japan tea pure and simple. 



Nibs Are composed of the refuse of the forego- 

 ing kinds, bearing the same relation to Japans that 

 Twankays do to Green teas, many of them drawing and 

 drinking exceedingly well, according to the grade sepa- 

 rated from. 



Up to 1856 China tea was the only tea used in the 

 United States, but during that year a small quantity of 

 Japan teas, consisting of about 50 half-chests, was first 

 received in this country. Being found pure and free from 

 coloring-matter, it soon became very popular with con- 

 sumers, a large number of whom had been prejudiced 

 against China green teas at the time, under the impres- 

 sion that they were more or less artificially colored. 

 The demand steadily increased, 400 half-chests were im- 

 ported the following year, which was increased to 1,100 

 chests in 1859. About 1860 the Japanese changed their 

 mode of curing, adopting that of the Chinese as applied 

 to Green teas, with the result of altering the color from 

 a dark to a light green, and of imparting a high " ioasty " 

 or malty flavor, in lieu of the uncooked or " grassy " 

 taste which characterized the first importations, since 

 which period and change they have continued to grow 

 in popular favor. But the supply of Japan teas being at one 

 time greatly in excess of the demand and the price declining 

 in many instances below the cost of production, in connec- 

 tion with the fact that the teas as originally prepared were 

 used only in the American market, induced the Japanese 

 to convert their surplus leaf into other varieties, such as 

 Pekoes, Congous, Oolongs, Imperials, Gunpowders, and 

 Young Hysons, in imitation of the Chinese " makes," with 

 the futile expectation of popularizing them in England and 

 other countries, where, heretofore, only very small 



