THE SCENTING OF TEA. 1G3 



bottom. A handful or more of the fresh flowers, 

 already separated from the stalks, is then strewed 

 over the tea. In this manner the tea and flowers 

 are placed in layers until the chest is quite full. 

 The mouth of the canister is then closed ; and the 

 tea thus remains twenty-four hours. The proper 

 proportion is three catties of flowers to one hundred 

 catties of tea. The next day the chest is emptied, 

 when the tea and flowers are mixed together. They 

 then undergo the process of Poey, about three 

 catties being put into one sieve. The Poey Long 

 is completely closed, and the tea and flowers are 

 thus roasted about from one to two hours, or 

 rather until the flowers become crisp. The flowers 

 are then sifted out, and the tea packed. If the 

 tea requires any further scenting, fresh flowers 

 must be used, and the process repeated as before. 

 The method of Poey is the same as that used for 

 the black tea, only that the bottom of the sieve is 

 covered with thin paper. The tea thus prepared 

 is then mixed with other tea in the proportion of 

 one part of scented tea to twenty of plain. The 

 whole is then slightly heated in a Kuo (Chao), and, 

 when packed, constitutes the description of tea 

 denominated in England Cowslip Hyson. Tea may 

 be scented at any time with this kind of tea, but 

 it must be previously heated or roasted about two 

 hours. 



The mode of scenting black tea differs from that 

 of green : and, so far as I understand, there are two 



M 2 



