262 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1887. 
If not detaining you too long, I think that the follow- 
ing account of the process of Oolong making may not 
be uninteresting. Oolongs are, as you are doubtless 
aware, exported from China to America in consider- 
able quantities. The tea when manufactured is of a 
brown and yellow colour, and for the finest teas the 
liquor is a pale, straw colour with an extremely delicate 
but pungent liquor. The coarser kinds have a reddish 
liquor, and are strong and rough flavoured. 
Early in the year I wrote to a friend of mine in 
China who is largely engaged in the making of Oolongs 
and shipping them to America and he gave me the follow- 
ing account of the way the teas were manufactured : — 
When the export of Ceylon teas reaches, as it may 
do in a few years' time, to 50 million lb. an additional 
outlet for your teas may be found not only useful but 
a matter of vital necessity. I will now read you what 
my friend says on the subjectof Oolong making. 
" I can only hope that you will forgive my negligence 
in not at least acknowledging your letter. With re- 
gard to Oolong making, it is very simple indeed. 
" 1. Every 10 days when the new flushes make their 
appearance, leaves are picked say early in the morning 
and during the day from the tea bushes and are 
brought down to the factory in baskets. 
" 2. The baskets of tea leaves are then turned out 
on to large, round trays, and if the sun is out the 
trays are often exposed for a short time only, and 
whilst exposed a man or two (for as many as are re- 
quired according to the number of trays) place their 
hands under the leaves and toss them into the air 
for 10 minutes and more. Sometimes tbey toss the whole 
of the tea in the tray up in the air catching the 
leaves again. This I call the natural absorbing pro- 
cess, or natural but rather hurried mode of withering 
the leaves. After tossing the leaves in the air for 
gome time the trays and contents are placed on bamboo 
stands indoors, and during the morning and Afternoon 
the same process of tossing and separating the leaves 
in the air is frequently repeated. It is not necessary 
to sun dry at all. Very often in rainy weather the 
absorbing goes on indoors in the way described, and 
in the course of the afternoon the leaves are ready 
to pass through the next process. 
"3. When the leaves have had the moisture they 
contain gradually absorbed, and look drier than in 
their natural state and of lighter colour, then the 
pan-frying process must be gone through. The pans 
are all circular iron pans — regular Chinese cooking 
pans— about 3 feet in diameter and a foot deep. 
These pans are fitted into an earthen or brick 
wall or fireplace and under the convex side of the 
pan is fitted a fireplace. The pans are heated suffici- 
ently strong to allow of your passing a handful of 
leaves into the concave pan very rapidly. You must 
arrange on the right side of the pan to have a basket 
of leaves partly withered by absorbing process. And 
on the left hand side of the pan you must have 
a smooth board, take care the board is scentless. 
You take a handful of leaves throw them into the 
pan and instantly give them a roll with the palm of 
your hand and pass them out on to the board when 
another man must give them a rapid twist by pass- 
ing the palm of his hand over the fired leaves. 
When the green leaves are thrown into the hot pan 
they fry like anything else would, and whilst going 
through the instantaneous frying process the hand 
must give them a roll or twist ; if this is not done 
very rapidly the teas will be overtired and will have 
a burnt, coarse flavour, and perhaps the quality will be 
taken out of the tea if they are choice flavoured. 
Well, after passing the leaves once through 
the pan and twisting them by a roll of the 
hand on the board they have once more to 
be pitched into the pans and passed through 
as rapidly as before and once more twisted 
on the board. The make and twist will all depend 
on the care taken iu this process. It is not necessary 
that the green leaf when (hrown into the pan should 
come out a totally black leaf in oolongs. Part of the 
leaf alter frying might be black and another part 
yellow or golden coloured, which colours are liked 
iu America, tut if you try tor thu London market 
the darker the leaf the better. The only thing is 
you must not fry the juices too long in the pan and take 
care the pan is not too hot, but still hot enough 
to frizzle the leaves. 
" 4. After passing through the pan fires and under- 
going a twisting process by hand rolling, the teas 
must then be put through the basket firing process. 
In a large building, tiled-roofed and enclosed by walls 
having only doors and ventilators high up on the 
walls, also a roof ventilator or two so made that the 
hot air can escape, but no rain can enter, you dig 
round holes in the floor say 2 feet deep and 2A feet 
in diameter, and you put brick sides in the interior 
of the holes just as if you were building a small 
brick chimney. Then raise above the ground of the 
building, each brick-hole about one foot more, and your 
fires are complete. A row of them will look like 
this 
ffi 
o o o o o o o 
Mill 
6 o 
^5 
Eccollect that the holes bricked all round must be 
2 feet deep below and 1 foot above the ground. You 
can have, as I have, as many as 250 fires in one 
room, but if you only want to try it on a small scale 
one or two fires will do. We will suppose the fire 
holes are made, then the next thing you will require 
is a cylindrical shaped basket %\ feet wide, same 
size as fireholes or a little larger and 3 feet high. 
Something like this ghost of a basket, which will 
6how you also the sieve which rests midway down : 
the basket and on which the tea is placed." 
o 
60 
+3 
03 
& 
CO 
The Chaikman: Gentlemen, I am sure we all 
most heartily thank Mr. Gepp for having come 
here at a sacrifice of considerable time and expense, 
to deliver a lecture to which we all must have 
paid the greatest attention. I, therefore, propose 
that we tender him a cordial vote of thanks. 
Mr. Cottam : It is mentioned in that paper that 
the pans are made of iron. May I say that the 
pans in Assam and Japan are made of copper? They 
are generally made of copper: I never saw one 
of iron. 
Mr. Gepp -. I have seen them myself, the copper 
ones ; but the tea-iiring pans in China are always 
of iron. 
Mr. Cottaji : That would only raise the question 
which would be the better — iron or copper pans ? 
I think in a country like this, copper would be the 
better because it is not liable to rust. 
Mr. Gurr : The action of the copper gives us green 
leaf. The iron pans are only used with regard 
to making Oolong tea. 
Mr. Cottam : Then do you think Oolong would 
be likely to form another fcind of tea, if you use 
copper pans? 
