MANIPULATION OF TEA. 251 



mode of estimating the temperature. In China, 

 judging from what has come under my own obser- 

 vation as now described, and from certain experi- 

 ments which I have recently made in this country 

 with other leaves, I feel little hesitation in affirming 

 that, with the exception of Pekoe tea, a temperature 

 of from 300 to 400 degrees of Fahrenheit is used 

 in the first roasting of all tea of good quality 

 whether green or black. In fact, one may be almost 

 justified in concluding that the Chinese consider 

 no temperature too high in this stage of the process, 

 so long as they can manage the leaves and keep 

 them free from burning. 



Thus finding it difficult to reconcile the high 

 temperature employed by the Chinese in this art 

 with the power of manipulation, since the men's 

 hands were neither burnt with heat nor scalded 

 with steam, but seeing at the same time the rapid 

 and copious evolution of vapour which arose from 

 the leaves, I was induced to suspect, that they 

 could not attain a degree of heat approaching the 

 boiling point. It is familiarly known that steam 

 given out under the ordinary pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere cannot acquire a higher temperature. I 

 therefore tried the following experiments, which 

 were made with as much care as an unpractised 

 hand could perform them. 



The occasion was one of those before alluded to, 

 when I saw black tea roasted by a man from Fokien. 

 The vessel was heated to a high temperature, but not 



