TEA. 



123 



upon the leaves before tliey have been acted upon by the atmosphere, 

 and the above chemical constituents, together with the colouring 

 matter, are better preserved than in black teas. Black teas are 

 bruised, beaten, and tossed before drying ; green teas are not. Black 

 teas are like a well-bruised apple, laid over for a day or two and then 

 dried in an oven. Green teas are like a sound one, dried in like 

 manner. These are the chief differences; but to make the matter 

 more plain it will, perhaps, be best to briefly state the method of 

 procedure and the utensils recjuired. 



Tea for family use, either black or green, may be made if the 

 farmer or other operator can muster a cooking stove, or even a fire on 

 the floor, and a brick or two, over which to set an iron or a block-tin 

 pan, measuring 2 feet 4 inches in diameter and 7 inches deep ; this 

 is, perhaps, the most convenient size, but a smaller will answer 

 perfectly well as long as the hemispherical form is maintained. This 

 is the roasting pan, and in it the raw leaves are heated so as to cause 

 them to exude their moisture. The pores of the leaves open with a 

 series of miniatui'e explosions, causing a sharp crackling sound ; this 

 is a tolerable test of the heat ; that is, the leaves should crackle, but 

 unfortunately they will do so when the pan is red hot, and liable to 

 bui*n out all the goodness from the leaf. 



Whatever heating medium may be employed, whether sun, or fire, 

 or their combinations, the leaves should be perfectly soft and pliable 

 before they can be rolled without breakage. They should be moist 

 enough to stick together. When in this state the leaves are thrown 

 on a table on which a bamboo or rattan mat is nailed. The Indian 

 matting used for covering floors will answer, or the table may be 

 shallowly grooved. A board to be worked by the hands may be 

 grooved in the opposite direction, the whole arrangement being some- 

 what like a pill-making machine on a large scale. Or a machine (of 

 which there are several) may be used, where the operations are suffi- 

 ciently extensive to warrant its use. 



Boiling. — This process has probably attracted more attention than 

 any other part of the manufacture. The object is really to extract 

 and press out the bitter juices (probably tannic acid, &c.), and it 

 accidentally happens that the leaf receives the various twists seen in 

 commercial teas. The Chinese manage this rolling almost entii'ely 

 with the hands and feet. A ball of leaves is taken in the hands and 

 rolled backward and forward, on the table, the pressure used being 

 considerable ; the leaves should become quite saponaceous, and when 

 a quantity of juice is pressed out, and the leaves twisted, they may 

 be pronounced properly rolled. It is a good plan to shake them 

 out thinly after rolling, that the action of the air may evaporate the 

 juices ; and, in the case of black tea, oxidize the leaf. Some opera- 

 tors allow the leaves to stand in balls for a time, others warm them 

 on the pan again ; some place them in the sun, others in the shade ; 

 some place them in heaps to ferment, both before and after rolling. 

 In short, the various methods by which good tea may be made are 

 simply innumerable, but the principles of desiccation and manipulation 

 must not be violated. What those principles are must in nearly every 



