(8) 
Sh 6210.8 Vik 
METHOD OF CURING OR PREPARING TEA 
IN JAPAN. _ 
Pusurc buildings, or drying houfes, are erected for curing 
Tea, and fo regulated, that every perfon, who either has not 
fuitable conveniences, or wants the requifite fkill, may bring 
his leaves at any time to be dried. Thefe buildings contain, 
from five to ten or twenty {mall furnaces, about three feet 
high, each having at the top a large flat iron pan', either high, 
{quare, or round, bent up a little on that fide which is over 
the mouth of the. furnace, which at once fecures the operator 
from the heat of the furnace, and prevents the leaves from 
failing off. 
There is alfo a long low table coveeaa with matts, on which 
the leaves are laid, and rolled by workmen, who fit round it. 
The iron pan-being heated to a certain degree by a little fire 
made in the furnace underneath, a few pounds of the frefh-ga- 
thered leaves are put upon the pan; the frefh and juicy leaves 
crack when they touch the pan, and it is the bufinefs of the 
* Some writers mention copper pans, and fuppofe that the green efflorefeence 
which appears on copper may increafe the yerdure of green Tea; but, from expe> 
riments that I made, there does not aioe: any foundation ‘for this fuppofition, | 
See Secr. VIII. ee: 
F ce 
