260 HEAT EMPLOYED AT JAVA 



quire, and are, I believe, submitted to a higher tem- 

 perature. At Java this is stated most unequivo- 

 cally to be the fact. Still, notwithstanding the 

 higher temperature there employed, the green tea 

 leaves are found so full of juices after roasting, that 

 it becomes necessary to press out these juices with 

 the hands on sieves over a pail before they can be 

 rolled. So that we seem justified in supposing 

 that the heat employed there, especially for green 

 tea, is of too low a temperature. 



If we examine the construction of the two ves- 

 sels employed in roasting these two classes of tea, 

 we shall find that the one used for black tea is 

 shallow and somewhat flat ; thus favouring a rapid 

 dispersion of the fluids as well as heat ; but the one 

 used for Hyson tea seems not known at Java nor at 

 Japan, nor does it appear that Mr. Fortune met with 

 it in the districts he visited in China. This vessel 

 is three times the depth of the other, besides having 

 perpendicular sides. It is also fitted low down in 

 the brick work, five inches below the surface of the 

 stove. Thus both the form and fitting of the 

 Hyson tea vessel are favourable to a concentration 

 of heat ; and it has already been remarked, that in 

 the example which I witnessed of the roasting of 

 Green tea, the heat of the steam which issued from 

 the leaves was so great, that I could not bear my 

 hand exposed to it an instant. It must be acknow- 

 ledged, however, that the temperature employed 

 upon that occasion was much too high. The flatter 

 form of the black tea vessel demonstrates that a con- 



