SORTING. 143 



simply quote the one which seems to have gained most ground, and 

 leave those more competent than myself to express any opinion on the 

 subject. The cause assigned to which I refer is that the Tea leaf after 

 being picked is allowed to remain too long in the raw state before 

 being fired, during which time it undergoes a process of fermentation ; 

 some then say that this causes sourness, while others maintain that 

 the fermentation is absolutely necessary for the production of a Black 

 Tea. The fact that we never meet with sourness in a Green Tea, one 

 feature in the preparation of which being that it is fired almost imme- 

 diately on being gathered, goes to corroborate this view. 



Burntness I have already referred to. As I said before, it may 

 either destroy the strength and flavour altogether, or sometimes, 

 without destroying the strength, add an unpleasant burnt flavour to 

 it. When the Tea has the flavour of smoke about it, it is called 

 smoky or smoky burnt. By being burnt, a Tea may be deteriorated 

 in value, say from 2d. to is. per Ib. The symptoms of burntness are 

 a dead black leaf (as opposed to the greatly-desired greyish, blackish 

 colour) having a burnt smell which often entirely neutralises the 

 natural aroma of the Tea. In looking over a broker's character of a 

 parcel of Teas, you may occasionally meet with the terms ''fresh 

 burnt," " brisk burnt," or " malty burnt." These phrases do not carry 

 a condemnatory meaning with them. The meaning of the word 

 burnt, as used here, would be better expressed by the term " fired." 

 The term " malty " means of full rich flavour, perhaps from the aroma 

 of this class of Tea resembling somewhat that of malt. Teas of the 

 three above descriptions, you may have noticed, often fetch very good 

 prices. The meaning of the word " full," applied to a liquor, is hardly 

 appreciable except by tasting. It does not signify strength or flavour, 

 but is opposed to thinness. A Green Tea may be strong or of good 

 flavour, but its liquor is never full. Fulness is generally characterised 

 by a dark liquor. The quality known as " body "in a wine is some- 

 what akin to fulness in a Tea. We speak of a " full " leaf Tea in 

 contradistinction to a broken leaf. " Chaffy " is generally used in 

 connection with Bohea and other brown leaf classes of Tea. A light 

 (in weight) brown, open or flat leaf, in fact, one resembling chaff, 

 would be called chaffy. The lower classes of Tea, especially the 

 dusts, are often described as " earthy " in flavour. By this a coarse 

 low flavour is understood, perhaps often caused by the admixture of 

 real dust. 



