360 [Assemble 



coarse teas used by the Chinese themselves, and cheaper than 

 the sweet briar leaves could be brought to market in this country. 

 The tea of Woping, in Canton, is of this characte.r. There is a 

 greater dilference in the qualities of black teas than of green. 



" The varieties of green tea appear to originate, not from the 

 slages of picking like the black, but partly Irom difference of 

 treatment and manipulation, partly from difference of soil. A. 

 large proportion of Twankey is the growth of a different district 

 from that which produces the Hysons. When a tea merchant 

 buys green ^tea from the farmer, he subjects it to the following 

 process : he sifts it through one sieve, which takes out the dust, 

 the young [hyson and the gunpowder ; then tl'rougli another 

 sieve, which passes the small leaf hyson of commerce ; two other 

 sieves successively takeout the second and largest degree of size ; 

 and what does not pass the third, forms hyson skin. The teas 

 then undergo the process of firing, in an iron pan, at a great de- 

 gree of heat, which gives the leaves a tighter twist, and brings 

 them up to tlieir color. The tea which passes the first sieve is 

 then put into a winnowing machine, and the fan blows the light 

 leaf at ^the farther end, and the larger broken leaf at a shorter 

 distance. The iicavier teas, as tlie gunpowder and hyson, fall 

 nearer or fartlie\" from the hopper, according to tlieir gravity, and 

 ^are separated by tlie winnowing machine. When fairly made, 

 the differences between the gunpowder and tlie young hyson will 

 be this : the young leaf whicli takes the long twist, will form the 

 young hyson ; and that which takes the round twist, w"ill form 

 gunpowder. Tlie same mode of manufacture is pursued with re- 

 spect to Twankey tea, tlie fine leaves of which make hyson." 



Another account states, that the drying of the leaves is begun 

 in the sunshine, after whicli they are carried into houses erected 

 lor the purpose, wath charcoal stoves, each being covered with a 

 lai-ge fiat iron pan, on which, after it is heated to a certain de- 

 gree, a half or three quarters of a pound of the leaves are put , and 

 stirred about briskly, with a i)rusli, to cause them to dry and 

 curl up. They are then swept into baskets: and rubbed or rolled 

 between the hands to curl them still more, and again subjected 

 to the beat of the stove. 



