HIGHER THAN FOR PEKOE. 275 



which it has been mixed throughout the whole 

 process of manipulation, and of which it has formed 

 a part, may have no such flavour. Thus I am 

 disposed to think that on a more exact investigation 

 of this subject, Gunpowder tea may be found 

 to have received a greater impression of heat, and 

 to be more highly dried than any other tea, black 

 or green. 



Then with regard to black tea, the Chinese, and 

 all who are conversant with the subject agree, that 

 Pekoe tea is roasted and dried at a lower temper- 

 ature than any other tea. Indeed it occasionally 

 happens, that newly manufactured Pekoe tea, even 

 in China, has a musty smell, alike indicative of 

 readiness to absorb moisture, as of insufficient 

 desiccation. 



Here, then, we have Gunpowder and Pekoe tea, 

 the one a green and the other a black tea, at the 

 extreme points of the scale of temperature employed 

 in the manipulation of tea. No fairer comparison, 

 not even between Congou and Twankay, can be 

 made. These are teas as nearly resembling each 

 other in circumstances as possible. At Java they 

 are frequently identical in all other respects ; from 

 the same shrubs, of the same age, from the same 

 parcel of leaves, and in all other circumstances the 

 same. Yet we find there, as in China, Gunpowder 

 tea representing the highest point of the scale of 

 temperature, and Pekoe the lowest. Thus, so far 

 as the teas of commerce are concerned, there can 



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