BOHEA TEA. 161 
they are thrown, by small quantities at a time, into a 
flat cast-iron pan, which is made very hot. They are 
twice stirred quick with the hand: then taken out, 
again put into the baskets, and rubbed between men's 
hands to roll them- After this they undergo another 
roasting in larger quantities, over a slower fire : and are 
then sometimes put into baskets over a charcoal fire. 
When the tea is, at last, sufficiently dried, it is spread 
on a table ; and the leaves that are too large, and those 
that are unrolled, yellow, broken, or otherwise defec- 
tive, are picked out, and the remainder is laid aside to 
be packed. 
The best bohea tea is a small blackish leaf, is dusty, 
smells somewhat like burnt hay, and has a rough and 
somewhat harsh taste. The average annual importation 
of bohea into this country, in the ten years from 1791 
to 1800, was 3,310,135 pounds. 
(b) Congo, or Cong-foo, derived from a word which 
implies much care or trouble, is a superior kind of bo- 
hea, less dusty, and with larger leaves. These are 
gathered with peculiar care, and there is some little 
difference in the preparation of congo and bohea. The 
leaves of the latter, of souchong, hyson, and the fine 
singlo teas, are said to be beaten, with flat sticks or 
bamboos, after they have been withered by exposure to 
the sun or air, and have acquired toughness enough to 
keep them from breaking. 
Of congo the annual average quantity imported in the 
above years amounted to 9,564^,202 pounds. 
(c) Souchong, from a Chinese word which signifies 
small good thing, is made from the leaves of trees three 
years old; and, where the soil is good, even of the 
leaves of older trees. Of true souchong very little is 
produced ; what is sold to Europeans for this is only 
the finest kind of congo, and the congo usually pur- 
chased by them is but the best sort of bohea, Such is 
the delicacy of this tea that, upon a hill planted with 
tea-trees, there may only be a single tree, the leaves of 
which are good enough to be called souchong, and even 
