104i 



TEA. 



are obtained from the Thea Bohea^ or black tea, 



la the green tea districts of Chekiang, near Xingpo, the first crap of leaves 

 is generally gathered about the middle of April. Tliis consists of the young 

 leaf buds just as they begin to unfold, and fonns a fine and delicate kind of 

 young hyson, which is held in high estimation by the natives, and is generally 

 sent about in small quantities as i^resents to their friends. It is a scarce and 

 expensive article, and the picking off" the leaves in such a young state does con- 

 siderable injury to the tea plantation. The summer rains, however, which fall 

 copiously about this season, moisten the earth and au' ; and if the plants are 

 young and vigorous, they soon push out fresh leaves. In a fortnight or three 

 weeks from the time of the first picking, the shrubs are ag:un covered with 

 fresh leaves, and are ready for the second gathering, which is the most impor- 

 tant of the season. The third and last gathering, which takes place as soon as 

 new leaves are formed, produces a very inferior kind of tea, ivhich is rarely sent 

 out of the district. The mode of gathering and preparing the leaves of the tea 

 plant is very simple. We have been so long accustomed to magnify and mys- 

 tify everything relating to the Chinese, that in all their arts and manufactiu'cs 

 we expect to find some peculiar practice, when the fact is, that many operations 

 in China are more simple in their character than in most parts of the world. 

 To rightly understand the process of rolling and drying the leaves, which I am 

 about to describe, it must be borne in mind that the grand object is to expel the 

 moisture, and at the same time to retain as much as possible of the aromatic 

 and other desirable secretions of the species. The system adopted to attain 

 this end is as simple as it is efficacious. In the harvest seasons, the natives 

 are seen in little family groups on the side of every hill, when the weather is 

 dry, engaged in gathering tea leaves. They do not seem so particular as I 

 imagined they would have been in this operation, but strip the leaves off rapidly 

 and prom'scuously, and throw them all into round baskets, made for the piu- 

 pose out of split bamboo or ratan. In the beginning cf May, when the princi- 

 pal gathering takes place, the young seed-vessels are about as large as peas. 

 These are also stripped off and mixed with the leaves ; it is these seed-vessels 

 which we often see in oirr tea, and which has some slight resemblance to capers. 

 "When a sufiicient quantity of leaves are gathered, they are carried home to the 

 cottage or barn, where the operation of drying is performed." 



This is minutel}' described, and the author continues : — 



" I have stated that the plants grown in the districts of Chekiang produce 

 green teas, but it must not be supposed that they are the green teas which are 

 exported to England. The leaf has a much more natural color, and has little 

 or none of what we call the 'beautiful bloom' upon it, which is so much ad = 

 mired in Europe and America. There is now no doubt that all these 'blooming' 

 green teas, which are manufactured at Canton, are dyed with Prussian blue and 

 gypsum, to suit the taste of the foreign 'barbarians ;' indeed the process may be 

 seen any day, during the season, by those who give themselves the trouble to 

 seek after it. It is very likely that the same ingredients are also used in dyeing 

 the northern green teas for the foreign market ; of this, however, I am not 

 quite certain. There is a vegetable dye obtained from Isa.tis incJigciica much 

 used in the northern districts, and called Teinsing ; and it is not unlikely that 

 it may be the substance which is employed. The Chinese never use these dyed 

 teas themselves, and I certainly think their taste in this respect is more correct 

 tban ours. It is not to be supposed that the dye used can produce any very bad 

 effects on the consumer, for, had this been the case, it would have been dis- 

 covered before jiow ; but if entirely harmless or inert, its being so must be 

 as;;ribed to the very small quantity which is employed in the manufacture." 



In short, the bLick and green teas which are generally exported 

 to England and the United States from the northern pro\'inces of 

 Chuia, are made from the same species ; and the difference of 

 color, Savor, &c., is solely the result of the different modes of 

 preparation. 



