Edible Products. 



206 



[September, 1910. 



After about four years, when the plants 

 may be about 4 feet high, they are cut 

 down to a uniform height of about 9 

 inches. Of course all the leaves come off 

 with the prunings, and the field becomes 

 a scene of withered twigs and bare 

 stumps. In six weeks these stumps will 

 have thrown a quantity of fresh young 

 shoots, which are allowed to grow to a 

 height of about 6 inches and are then 

 tipped, i.e-, the end is broken off. 

 After a further wait of about one month, 

 the fresh growth is plucked for crop. 

 It is usually found that the first pluck- 

 ings do not make such good tea as the 

 later ones. 



From this point the crop depends upon 

 weather. If there be mixed rain and 

 warm sunshine, with moisture in the 

 air, the trees should give a crop of 

 leaves at about 2 weeks' interval for 

 some months, gradually giving less as 

 the time returns for pruning, which 

 consists of cutting all the leaves down, 

 removing all knotty and badly grown 

 wood. In the second cutting the plants 

 are left 13 or 14 inches above ground, 

 and in each succeeding year the height 

 is increased about 2 inches. In India 

 it is expected that each acre should 

 give at least 1,000 lb: of green leaf in 

 a season, but, as the yield must vary 

 with the space allowed to each plant, 

 the age of the plants, and to some ex- 

 tent also with the weather, it is im- 

 possible to make really reliable com- 

 parisons as to the yields per acre. 



Thb Preparation op the Leaf. 



After plucking, there are four processes 

 through which the leaf has to pass : 

 first, withering ; second, rolling ; thirdj 

 fermenting ; and fourth, drying. 



In the old Chinese culture all was 

 accomplished by hand labour, but in 

 Jamaica it would be impossible to com- 

 pete for commercial purposes without 

 machinery. 



The plucking of the leaves requires 

 care ; only the soft young growth at the 

 end of the shoots must be taken, consist- 

 ing of the bud with two, two and a half, 

 or three leaves, according as whether 

 the plucking is to be fine or coarse, The 

 axils of the shoots below the part 

 plucked must not be injured, and to 

 break off the whole shoot at the joint 

 (as is sometimes done) must be treated 

 as a serious offence. The freshly pluck- 

 ed leaves have to be spread out as much 

 as possible apart from each other to 

 wither. For this purpose much space is 

 required, as a single pound weight of 

 leaf will need about a square yard. The 

 best material on which to spread the 

 leaf is wood. The time needed to wither 



the leaf is usually about fifteen to 

 twenty hours, but the relative humidity 

 of the atmosphere naturally affects it 

 materially, When successfully wither- 

 ed, the leaf should feel like thin, soft kid 

 leather. The leaf is then put into the 

 roller. 



In hand making, a ball of leaves is 

 taken in the two hands and worked 

 round round on a table : the action of 

 the machine is to imitate this movement. 

 In some machines the box containing 

 the leaf rotates on a fixed table, in 

 others the leaf holder is fixed and the 

 table rotates ; in either case the leaf is 

 kept in a constant twisting movement 

 by raised ridges. This process gives the 

 twisted look so familiar in dried tea, 

 and prepares the leaf for fermenting by 

 partially crushing the cells, and making 

 their contents accessible. The rolled 

 leaf is passed through a rotating wire 

 mesh cylinder to separate the large 

 from the small leaves (as the large re- 

 quires more fermenting than the small), 

 and each size is spread out thinly on 

 cement-covered tables, and covered with 

 a wet cloth. The leaf when put into 

 the roller was bright green ; on leaving 

 the roller it has become yellowish. 



As fermentation proceeds, the colour 

 changes to bronze, and the scent of the 

 leaf changes also. It is during this pro- 

 cess that the substances which give 

 flavour to the tea are formed, and good 

 judgment is required by sight and smell 

 to determine the time when the maxi- 

 mum of flavouring matter has been pro- 

 duced, for if left too long the substances 

 giving the flavour are again decomposed, 

 and the tea becomes flat and tasteless. 

 When judged to be ready the leaf is 

 carried to the drier, and subjected to 

 strong heat (say, about 230°F.), which at 

 once stops further fermentation and 

 fixes the products. 



The tea is spread on wire mesh trays 

 in the drier, the action of which is to 

 pass hot dry air through these trays, 

 and thus carry off the moisture from 

 the tea. The air is heated by passing 

 through flue^s or tubes arranged in or 

 around the furnace. There are several 

 forms of drier, In some, the hot air 

 passes upward from below ; in others it 

 is forced downward through the trays 

 by a fan ; and in others the leaf is carried 

 through on moving trays. The leaf 

 being wet when first put into the drier is 

 not scorched by the high temperatuie, 

 but after a short time it is advisable to 

 move it into another drier at a lower 

 temperature, say, 180° to 200° F. 



When thoroughly dry, the tea is 

 stored in large boxes until required for 



