96 JOUKNAL OF THE EOYAL HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the manner of making it. I have nowhere drunk it so good as with 

 x\hmed Shah. It was always made before or after a march, and on a 

 cold morning I found it, after a little time, quite as palatable as tea made 

 in the ordinary way, and far more nourishing. When well made it 

 resembles chocolate in appearance, in consequence of the reddish tinge 

 imparted to the tea by the presence of the soda, which prevents it also 

 from cloying. Sutu, or the flour of roasted barley, is frequently eaten 

 with it." 



Oolong Tea. — It would occupy far too much time to describe all the 

 other classes of tea besides black and green. I think, however, that it 

 may be of interest to many to have the following description of the 

 manufacture of Oolong tea (which Dr. H. H. Mann has kindly furnished me 

 with) placed on record here : — " Formosa Oolongs have a recognised place 

 on the tea market, principally on account of a very characteristic and 

 much-desired flavour. Commissioners were sent from both India and 

 Ceylon in 1904 to ascertain the methods by which this was produced. 

 They reported that the flavour was principally due to the particular 

 variety of the plant grown. But that variety was not to be recommended 

 on any other ground, as the yield was small, the plant was difficult to 

 grow, and could only be satisfactorily propagated by layering. The 

 manufacture was quite special in character, and in essentials was carried 

 out as follows : On the leaf being brought into the factory at midday it 

 is put out in the sun to be warmed, first spread thinly and then thicker, 

 for twenty minutes to one hour. The leaf so treated is taken into a house 

 and spread on bambco trays in a layer about three to four inches thick. 

 At intervals of fifteen minutes it is collected together and shaken up with 

 the hands. ^Yith this treatment continued for two hours, a change occurs 

 in the smell of the leaf, and a tinge of brown takes place on the softer leaf 

 and on the edges of the others. When this discoloration has spread 

 over the softer leaves in spots, the tea is ready for panning. This 

 operation is carried out by keeping the leaf constantly and evenly on the 

 move in a pan about two feet in diameter, retained at a temperature of 

 360^ F. to 400° F., and for about ten minutes. Eolhng follows, and finally 

 firing in the small charcoal stoves used universally in tea manufacture in 

 China and Japan. For further particulars the report of the Indian Com- 

 missioner, Mr. J. Hutchison, ' The Cultivation and Manufacture of 

 Formosa Oolong Tea,' Calcutta, 1904, should be consulted." 



It will be observed that the process of Oolong tea manufacture 

 manifests nothing new. It is precisely that described by Bruce in 1839, 

 and produced by appliances that in no respect difler from those shown by 

 my reproduction of Bruce's original plates. It would thus seem that the 

 peculiar flavour of the Oolong teas must be due to some other cause than 

 the method of manufacture, unless it be supposed that the system, origin- 

 ated and perfected in the Indian plantations, has omitted some element 

 of importance when it abandoned sun-drying and panning before rolling. 

 It would seem, therefore, far more likely that cHmate, soil, and plant have 

 more to do with the peculiar flavour of the Oolong teas than the 

 particular method of manufacture. 



