THE SEVERAL PROCESSES. 113 



require no tossing, but are simply whirled round 

 and shaken to and fro, as in the act of sifting and 

 winnowing, which obviously would produce the 

 same effect. Thus the workman begins at one 

 end of the room, and proceeds in the manner 

 already described, until each sieve has passed 

 through his hands. He then returns to the first 

 sieve, and continues the process until the leaves 

 give out the requisite degree of fragrance.* 



These teas, agreeably to the accounts of some 

 Chinese, then undergo another process previously 

 to their being roasted, denominated Oc Ching. 

 This consists in collecting the leaves of each sieve 

 into a heap, and covering them with a cloth. They 

 are then watched with the utmost care, and, as 

 this part of the process is continued during the 



* Mr. Jacobson describes this process very accurately. It is 

 employed at Java for all descriptions of black tea, as well as 

 tossing the leaves with the hands. He states, the leaves are 

 strewed about two inches thick on circular trays, measuring 

 about 301 inches in diameter. An undulatory motion is given 

 to the tray from right to left, by a slight action of the arms 

 and hands. The leaves thus kept in constant motion, and whirled 

 round, turn as it were on a common axis, and rise in a cone- 

 like shape to the height of eight inches, occupying little more 

 than one half of the tray. He also observes, that one man may 

 work eighty trays containing 60 lbs. of leaves in this manner 

 in one hour. The leaves are first whirled from thirty to forty 

 times, then tossed from thirty-five to forty times, and so as long 

 as necessary ; but the last motion must be the whirling. They 

 are then covered with a tray, and put aside for about an hour ; 

 but this must depend on the state of the leaves. {Handboek 

 v. d. Kultuur en Fabrikatie v. Thee, § 333.) 



I 



