June i, 1889.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
799 
In the trade, teas are more commonly classified by 
their locality than their names, as it is found that 
well-marked differences in the style of the produce 
continue year after year, all equally well-cured tea. 
These arise from diversities in soil, climate, age, and 
manufacturing, and furnish materials for still further 
multiplying the sorts by skilfully mixing them. Thus 
in black teas we have Huuan and Hupeli from two 
provinces, just 83 Georgia Uplands and Sea Islaud indi- 
cate two sorts of cottou ; Ningyong, Kai-san, Ho-san, 
Sing-chuue'-ki, &e, and many others, which are un- 
known out of China, are all names of places. One 
gentleman has given a list of localities, each furnishing 
its quota and peculiar product, amounting in all to 
forty-tive for black and nine for green. The area of 
these regions, is about four hundred and seventy 
thousand square miles. 
It will have been seeu already that the color of 
green tffa, as well as its quality, depends very much 
on rapid and expert drying. When this kind is 
intended for home consumption soon after it is made, 
the color is of little consequence; but when the hue 
influences the sale, then it is not to be overlooked 
by the manufacturer or the broker. The first tea 
biought to Europe was from Fuhkien and all black, 
but as the trade extended probably some of the deli- 
cate Hyson sorts were now and then seeu at Canton, 
and their appearance in England and Holland appre- 
ciated as more and more was sent. It was found, 
however, to be very difficult to maintain a uniform 
tint. If cured too slightly, the leaf was liable to 
fermentation during the voyage : if cured too much 
it was unmarketable, which for the manufacturer 
was worse yet. Chinese ingenuity was equal to the 
call. Though no patent office was at hand to register 
the date when coloring green tea commenced, it is 
probably more than one hundred years since. The 
three hundred and forty-two chests and half chests 
which were so ►.ummarily offered on board the " Dart- 
mouth," the "Eleanor," and the " Beaver," when their 
conteuts were thrown overboard in Boston harbor, on 
December 16, 1773, furnishes probably no index of 
the consumption of tea in New England at that 
time. It was all called Bohea by John Adams, who 
speaks of three cargoes, as if the vessels had nothing 
else of note in their holds. 
Dr. Holmes, in his ballad on the Boston Tea Party 
at its centennial celebration, says in the last verse: — 
The waters in the rebel bay 
Have kept the tea-leaf savor 
Our old North enters in their spray 
Still taste a Hyson flavor ; 
And Freedom's teacup still o'erflows 
With ever frpsh libations, 
To cheat of slumber all her foes 
And cheer the wakening nations. 
It has been noticed that emigrants to Australia, 
who had seldom tasted green tea before leaving Eng- 
land, usuady prefer it in their new homes, as new 
settlers do in this country. [United States.— Ed.] 
The prevailing notion that green tea is cured on 
copper arose, no doubt, from the conclusion that 
real verdigris was the only source of a verdigris 
color, and the astringent taste confirmed the wrong 
idea. A more difficult question to answer is the in- 
quiry, why is it still believed? 
The operation of giving green tea its color is a 
simple one. A quantity of Prussian blue is pulverized 
to a very fine powder, and kept ready at the last 
roasting. Pure gypsum is burned in the charcoal 
fire till it is soft and fit for easily triturating. Four 
parts are then thoroughly mixed with three parts of 
Prussian blue, making a light blue powder. About 
five minutes before finally taking off the dried leaves 
this pjwder is sprinkled on them, and instantly the 
whole panful of two or three pounds is turued over 
by the workman's hands till a uniform colour is obtained. 
Hia hands come out quite blue, but the compound 
fdves tne green leaves a brighter green hue. The quan- 
tity is not great, pay half a poun 1 in a hundred of 
tea: and as gypsum is not a dangerous or irritating 
substance, being constantly eaten by the Chinese, 
the other ingredient remains in an almost infini- 
tesimal degree. If foreigners preferred yellow teas 
no doubt they could be favored, for the Chinese are 
much perplexed to account for this strange predi- 
lection, as they nover drink this colored or faced 
tea. Turmeric root has been detected too, in a very 
few analyses, but probably there were lots that 
needed to be refine I at Canton to cover up mildew 
or supply a demand. The reasons for not drinking 
this tea are, how* ver, owing more to the nature 
than to the color o the leaf. The kinds of green 
tea are fewer than the black, and the regions producing 
it are less in area. Gunpowder and Imperial are 
foreign-made terms ; the teas are known as sian 
chu and ta chu by native dealers. The first is rolled 
to resemble shot or coarse guupowder: the other 
is named "sore crali's eyes," "sesamum seeds," and 
"pearls." Hyson is a corruption of yti-tsien "before 
the rains," and of Hi-chun, meaning "flourishing 
spring." The last is alleged to be the name of a 
maiden who sugge-ced to her father as long ago 
as 1700, or thereab nits, a better m >de of sorting 
tea, and his business increased so much as his fine 
Hyson became known, that he gave it her name. 
Members of this same family are still engaged in 
making this same tea, and the chop, known as the 
Li yih-hing or Li's < xtra perfume, is now in market 
and has maintained its reputation for nearly two 
hundred years. Oolong is obtained ia Fuhkien — a 
black tea with a greed tea flavor, named Black Dragon 
from a story that Su was struck with the fragrance of 
the leaf from a plant where a black snake was found 
coiled. The great mart for green tea is Twaukav 
in Chehkiang provi ice. 
A chop is a well-l.tiown name in the tea trade: it 
is derived from the Chinese word "chop" or stamp " 
such as an official uses, and in the tea trade denotes 
a certain number o: packages from the same place, 
and all of the same quality. In the course of years 
the uniform excellence of a certain chop, like that 
of a certain vineyard, gives it a marketable value. 
A lawsuit arose in 1873 between two American houses 
at Canton in regard to the right to a certain chop 
of tea, between two brokers, each of whom olaimed 
to sell the genuine lot. Such chops range from fifty 
to one thousand two hundred chests, averaging six 
hundred. English t '.a tasters have learned that an 
admixture of scented teas in common sorts of Congou 
adds much to the flavor and sale. This is not 
often done for n,i cive drunk tea, and is chiefly 
practised at Canton. The flowers used are roses, olea 
fragrans, tuberose, oi ange, jasmine, gardenia, aud azalea. 
The stems, calyx, a id other parts are carefully sorted 
out, so that only the petals remain. When the tea 
is ready for packing, dry and warm, the fresh flowers 
are mixed with it (forty pounds to one hundred 
pounds for the orange), and left thus in a mass for 
twenty-four hours; it is then sifted and winnowed 
in a fanning mill sill the petals are separated. If 
the odour is insuffici :nt, the operation may be repeated 
with the jasmine or the orange. Tne proportion of 
jasmine is a little more than orange; of the azalea 
nearly half anil half. The length of time required 
to obtain the proper smell from these flowers differs, 
and among them all tea scented with the azalea is 
said to keep its perfume the longest. 
The mode of scenting tea differs somewhat ac- 
cording to the flov/er itself, for the small blossom 
of the olea cannot be separated by siftiug as rose 
or jasmine leaves can. Tea thus perfumed is sent 
to England as Orange Pekoe and Scented Oaper. It 
is mixed with fine teas : and there is much to commend 
in thus increasing the aroma and taste of this healthy 
beverage. The Scented Caper comes in the form 
of round pellets, which are made of black tea 
softened by sprinkling water on it for a good while 
till most of the quantity takes this form ; as soon 
as perfumed it is packed for shipment. When rolled 
and dried, such tea needs only a facing to make it 
into Imperial and Gunpowder among the green teas. 
The Chinese have been charged with adulterating 
their tea by mixing in other leaves with the true 
tea-leaf, and adding other ingredients far worse 
than rose, jujube, and fern-leave», and the cases 
