TEA. 105 



I shall make an extract, also, from Williams' s " Middle King- 

 dom :" 



" The native names given to the various sorts of tea are derived for the most 

 part from their appearance or place of growth ; the names of many of the heat 

 kinds are not commonly known abroad. Bohea is the name of the Wu-i hills, 

 (or Bu-i, as the people on the spot call them,) where the tea is grown, and not 

 a term for a particular soit among the Chinese, though it is applied to a very 

 poor kind of black tea at Canton. Sunglo is likewise a general term for the 

 green teas produced on the hills in Kiangsu. The names of the principal 

 varieties of black tea are as follows : Pecco, ' white hairs,' so called from the 

 whitish down on the leaves, is one of the choicest kinds, and has a peculiar 

 taste ; Orange Pecco, called shang hiang, or ' most fragrant,' differs from it 

 slightly ; Hungmuey, ' red plum blossoms,' has a slightly reddish tinge ; the 

 terms princes eyebrows, carnation hair, lotus kernel, sparrow 1 s tongue, fir-leaf 

 pattern, dragon' s pellet, and dragon's whiskers, are all translations of the native 

 names of different kinds of Souchftng or Pecco. Souchong, or siatt chung, means 

 little plant or sort, as Pou-hong, or folded sort, refers to the mode of packing 

 it ; Campoi is corrupted from kaiipei, i. e. carefully fired ; Chilian is the tea 

 scented with the chulan flower, and applied to some kinds of scented green tea. 

 The names of green teas are less numerous : Gunpowder, or ma chu, i. e. hemp 

 pearl, derives its name from the form into which the leaves are rolled ; ta chu, 

 or ' great pearl,' and chu Ian, or ' pearl flower,' denote two kinds of Imperial; 

 Hyson, or yu tsien, i. e. before the rains, originally denoted the tenderest leaves 

 of the plant, and is now applied to Young Hyson ; as is also another name, mei 

 pcin, or ' plum petals ;' while hi chun, ' flourishing spring,' describes Hyson ; 

 Tinntkay is the name of a stream in Chehkiang, where this sort is produced ; 

 and Hyson skin, or pi cha, i. e. skin tea, is the poorest kind, the siftings of the 

 other varieties ; Oolung, ' black dragon,' is a kind of black tea with green flavor. 

 Ankoi teas are produced in the district of Nganki, not far from Tsiuenchau fu, 

 possessing a peculiar taste, supposed to be owing to the ferruginous nature of 

 the soil. De Guignes speaks of the Pu-'rh tea, from the place in Kiangsu 

 where it grows, and says it is cured from wild plants found there ; the infusion 

 is unpleasant, and is used for medical purposes. The Mongols and others in 

 the west of China prepare tea by pressing it, when fresh, into cakes like bricks, 

 and thoroughly drying it in that shape to carry in their wanderings. 



" Considering the enormous labor of preparing tea, it is surprising that even 

 the poorest kind can be afforded to the foreign purchaser at Canton, more than 

 a thousand miles from the place of its growth, fur 9d. and less a pound ; and 

 in their ability to furnish it at this rate, the Chinese have a security of retain- 

 ing the tracte in their hands, notwithstanding the efforts to grow the plant 

 elsewhere. Comparatively little adulteration is practised, if the amount used 

 at home and abroad be considered, though the temptation is great, as the in- 

 fusion of other plants is drunk instead of the true tea. The poorer natives 

 substitute the leaves of a species of Rhamnus or Fallopia, which they dry ; 

 Camellia leaves are perhaps mixed up with it, but probably to no great extent. 

 The refuse of packing-houses is sold to the poor at a low rate, under the name 

 of tea endings and tea bones ; and if a few of the rarest sorts do not go abroad, 

 neither do the poorest. It is a necessary of life to all classes of Chinese, and 

 that its use is not injurious is abundantly evident from its general acceptance 

 and extending adoption ; and the prejudice against it among some out of China 

 may be attributed chiefly to the use of strong green tea, which is no doubt pre- 

 judicial. If those who have given it up on this account will adopt a weaker 

 infusion of black tea, general experience is proof that it will do them no great 

 harm, and they may be sure that they will not be deceived by a colored article. 

 Neither the Chinese nor Japanese use milk or sugar in their tea, and the 

 peculiar taste and aroma of the infusion is much better perceived without those 

 additions ; nor can it be drunk so strong without tasting an unpleasant bitter- 

 ness, which the milk partly hides. The Japanese sometimes reduce the leaves 

 to a powder, and pour boiling water through them in a cullender, in the same 

 way thatcoflee is often made." 



