AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE.-NO. 12. 
365 
AGRICULTURE OF THE CHINESE.—No. 12. 
Varieties of Tea Manufactured for the European 
and American Markets. —In order to give the reader 
some idea of the different sorts of teas manufactur¬ 
ed for the European and American markets, I can¬ 
not do better than quote some excellent remarks on 
this subject, by Sir John Francis Davis, in his 
work, “ The Chinese.” 
As tea has always held so principal a place in 
our intercourse with China, it requires some par¬ 
ticular consideration as an article of commerce. 
We have seen before, that the fineness and dear¬ 
ness of tea are determined by the tenderness and 
smallness of the leaf when picked. The various 
descriptions of the black diminish in quality and 
value as they are gathered later in the season, until 
they reach the lowest kind, called by us Bohea, 
and by the Chinese Ta-cha , “ large tea” on ac¬ 
count of the maturity and size of the leaves. The 
early leafbuds, in spring, being covered with a 
white silky down, are gathered to make pekoe, 
which is a corruption of the Canton name Pak-ho , 
“white down.” A few days’ longer growth pro¬ 
duces what is here styled u black-leaved pekoe.” 
The more fleshy and matured leaves constitute 
souchong ; as they grow larger and coarser they 
form Congou: and the last and latest picking is 
Bohea. The tea farmers, who are small proprietors, 
or cultivators, give the tea a rough preparation, and 
then take it to the contractors, whose business it is 
to adapt its farther preparations to the existing na¬ 
ture of the demand. The different kinds of tea 
may be considered in the ascending scale of their 
value. 
1. Bohea : which in England is the name of a 
quality , has been already stated to be, in China, the 
name of a district where various kinds of black tea 
are produced. The coarse leaf brought under that 
name to this country is distinguished by containing 
a larger proportion of the woody fibre than other 
teas ; its infusion is of a darker color, and as it has 
been more subjected to the action of fire, it 
keeps a longer time without becoming musty than 
the finer sorts. Two kinds of Bohea are brought 
from China; the lowest of these is manufactured 
on the spot, and therefore called “ Canton Bohea,” 
being a mixture of refuse Congou with a coarse tea 
called Woping, the growth of the province. The 
better kind of Bohea comes from the district of that 
name in Fokien, and, having been of late esteemed 
equally with the lower Congou teas, has been 
packed in the same square chests, while the old 
Bohea package is of an oblong shape. 
2. Congou , the next higher kind, is named from 
a corruption of the Chinese Koong-foo , “labor or 
assiduity.” It formed for many years the bulk of 
the East-India Company’s cargoes; but the quality 
gradually fell off, in consequence of the partial 
abandonment of the old system of annual contracts, 
by which the Chinese merchants were assured of a 
remunerating price for the better sorts. The con¬ 
sumption of Bohea in this country has of late years 
increased, to the diminution of Congou, and the 
standard of the latter has been considerably lowered. 
A particular variety, called Campoi , is so called 
from a corruption of the original name Kien-peoy, 
“ selection—choice ;” but it has ceased to be prized 
in this country, from the absence of strength—a 
characteristic which is stated to be generally esteem¬ 
ed beyond delicacy of flavor. 
3. Souchong (seaou-choong, “small, or scarce 
sort”), is the finest of the stronger black teas, with 
a leaf that is generally entire and curly, but more 
young than in the coarser kinds. What is called 
“Padre Souchong” is packed in separate paper 
bundles, of about half a pound each, and is so fine 
as to be used almost exclusively for presents. The 
probability is that its use in that way by the Catho¬ 
lic missionaries first gave rise to the name. The 
finest kinds of souchong are sometimes scented 
with the flowers of the Chloranthus inconspicuus , 
and Gardenia florida; and they cannot be obtained, 
even among the Chinese, except at dear prices. A 
highly-crisped and curled leaf called Sonchi, has 
lately grown into disrepute and been much disused, 
in consequence of being often found to contain a 
ferruginous dust, which was probably not intend¬ 
ed as a fraud, but arose from the nature of the 
ground, where the tea had been carelessly and 
dirtily packed. 
4. Pekoe being composed mainly of the young 
spring buds, the gathering of these must, of course, 
be injurious, in some degree, to the future produce 
of the shrub, and this description of tea is accord¬ 
ingly both dear and small in quantity. With a 
view to preserving the fineness of flavor, the appli¬ 
cation of heat is very limited in drying the leaves, 
and hence it is, that pekoe is more liable to injury 
from keeping than any other sort of tea. There is 
a species of pekoe made in the green-tea country 
from the young buds, in like manner with the black 
kind ; but it is so little fired that the least damp 
spoils it; and for this reason, as well as on ac¬ 
count of its scarcity and high price, the hyson pe¬ 
koe, as some call it, has never been brought to 
England. The Mandarins send it in very small 
canisters to each other, or to their friends, as pre¬ 
sents, under the name of Loong-tsing , which is 
probably the name of the district where the tea is 
made. 
Green teas may generally be divided into five de¬ 
nominations, which are— 1 . Twankey; 2. Hyson 
skin; 3. Hyson; 4. Gunpowder; 5. Young 
Hyson. 
Tivankey tea has always formed the bulk of the 
green teas imported into this country, being used 
by the retailers to mix with the finer kinds. The 
leaf is older, and not so much twisted and rolled as 
in the dearer descriptions ; there is altogether less 
care and trouble bestowed on its preparation. It is, 
in fact, the Bohea of green teas; and the quantity 
of it brought to England has fully equalled three 
fourths of the whole importation of green. 
Hyson Skin is so named from the original Chinese 
term, in which connection the skin means the refuse , 
or inferior portion of anything; in allusion, per¬ 
haps, to the hide of an animal, or the rind of fruit. 
In preparing the fine tea called hyson, all those 
leaves that are of a coarser, yellower, and less 
twisted or rolled appearance, are set apart and sold 
as the refuse or “ skin tea,” at a much inferior 
price. The whole quantity, therefore, depends on, 
and bears a proportion to, the whole quantity of 
hyson manufactured, but seldom exceeds two or 
