Edible Products. 



82 



[Feb. 1907. 



Picking.— Before the women are sent in to begin picking, the master of the 

 tea garden examines the bushes and marks those whose leaves are ready by tying a 

 piece of paper on to one of the branches. By this means the uniformity is obtained 

 as none of the leaves are picked until they reach a certain stage of development. 



Preparation of Leaves. -The leaves are first of all roughly sorted, bits of 

 wood, large stalks, &c, being removed and thrown away. 



Steaming. — The modus operandi for steaming and firing gyokuro is similar 

 to that employed with sencha, except that more care and trouble are taken. For 

 steaming, a very hot fire is made up, so that the water in the kettle may give off as 

 much steam as possible. A handful of the fresh leaves are now put into the bamboo 

 sieve, which is placed over the kettle for about eight seconds. They are then 

 spread out on a wooden board and cooled by being turned over in the hands and by 

 being fanned, after which they are spread out in flat trays until they are ready 

 for firing. 



Firing.— Gyokuro is fired in the same way as sencha, except that it is 

 done at a rather lower temperature, and thus takes about half an hour longer. 

 After having been rolled on the trays for about one and a half hours 

 the leaves are taken off and spread out on tables, where they are gone over 

 carefully by the hand. Seed capsules, last year's leaves, stalks, &c, are taken out 

 and the remainder is returned to the workman. The latter continues the firing for 

 another hour and then transfers the leaves to a cooler tray for about the same 

 period. The tea is left for another half hour to complete drying, and is finally again 

 sorted and also passed through a number of hand-sieves of graduated finenesses. It 

 now only remains to break the tea up small and it is ready for market. Gyokuro 

 thus goes through four sortings in all— one before steaming, one during firing and 

 and two after firing. Sencha is sorted but twice as a rule, though it is also some- 

 times gone over before steaming ; tea destined for the foreign market is sorted only 

 once, being passed through a sieve after firing. 



Hikicha (OR Tencha). —The method of preparing hikieha, also called tencha, 

 which is most expensive of all Japanese teas, is totally different from the above. 

 The leaves employed are the same as those used for gyokuro, and are worked up 

 into either indifferently. 



Steaming — After being gone over roughly by hand the leaves are steamed 

 for 15 seconds, a lid being in this case put over the sieve while they are on the fire. 

 They are then fanned and spread out on flat bamboo trays-. 



Firing.— The firing is done in a very hot room, the temperature of which is 

 over 100° Fahr., with practically no ventilation and the men work almost naked. 

 This work is most exhausting, and, as the hours are very long, frequent rests are 

 necessary. The trays used for firing are similar to those for sencha and gyokuro, 

 but the fires are much hotter. 



Sorting. — The steamed leaves are poured on to these trays and are turned 

 over and shaken with a kind of three-pronged fork made of bamboo, after which 

 they are spread out on sheets of cartridge-paper and left to dry for a quarter of an 

 hour. They are then placed on tables, and dried leaves, stalks, &c.,are carefully 

 removed. 



Drying.— The sorting completed, the tea is again placed on trays in the hot 

 room and left for at least 12 hours, at the end of which time it is dry and quite 

 brittle. 



Sifting.— After undergoing another sorting similar to the above it is put 

 through graduated bamboo sieves until nothing is left but the delicate young leaves. 

 Pulverising — The tea is finally put in a mortar and ground into powder with 



