330 
BOHEA TEAS. 
1. Soo-chuen, sut-chong, sou-chong, or su-chong, called by the Chinese 
saa-tyang, and sact-chaon or sy-tycmn, is a superior kind of Cong-fou Tea. 
It imparts a yellowish green colour by infusion; and has its name hour a 
place or province in China.* * 
Padre-Souchong, called so because the priests drink it, has a finer taste 
and smell. The leaves are large and yellowish, not rolled up, and packed 
in papers of half a pound each. It is generally conveyed by caravans into 
Russia. Without much care it will be injured at sea. It is rarely to be 
met with in England. 
2. Cam-ho or Soum-lo, called after the name of the place where it is 
gathered. A fragrant tea, with a violet smell. Its infusion is pale. 
3. Congo-fou, congo or bongo-fo. This has a larger leaf than the following, 
and the infusion is a little deeper coloured. It resembles the common Bohea 
in the colour of the leaf.f 
Ordinary singlo tea is neither so often tatched (tatching is drying in a flat iron pan heated), or picked, 
as the above. 
Singlo and hyson teas are cured in the following manner: wheti the leaves are gathered, they 
are directly tatched, and then very much rubbed by men’s hands to roll them, after which they are 
spread to divide them, for the leaves in rolling are apt to stick together; they are then tatched very 
dry, and afterwards spread on tables to be picked; this is done by girls or women, who, according 
to their skill, can pick from one to four catties each day. Then they are tatched again, and afterwards 
again, and after that tossed in flat baskets to clear them from dust; they are then again spread on 
tables and picked, and then tatched for a fourth time, and laid in parcels, which parcels are again 
tatched by ten catties at a time, and when done put hot into baskets for the purpose, where they are 
kept till it suits the owner to pack them in chests or tubs, before which the tea is again tatched, and 
then put hot into the chests or tubs, and pressed in them by hand. When the tea is hot it does not 
break, which it is apt to do when it is cold. Singlo tea being more dusty than Hyson tea, it is 
twice tossed in baskets, hyson only once. 
It appears that it is necessary to tatch these teas whenever they contract any moisture; so that 
if the seller is obliged to keep his tea any time, especially in damp weather, he must tatch it to give 
it a crispness before he can sell it. 
It is to be observed, that the quantity of leaves tatched increases with the times of tatching; at 
first only half or three quarters of a catty of leases are put into the tatches. —Asiatic Researches. 
* Souchong is made from the leaves of trees three years old, and where the soil is very good; of 
older, when not so good, congo is made. The leaves of older trees make bohea. The tea-trees last 
many years. When tea-trees grow old and die, that is, when the bodies of the trees fail, the roots 
produce new sprouts, which make Peko.— Asiatic Researches. 
+ Congo, says Chow-qua, a Chinese, is tatched twice, as is Souchong; but Youngs haw says 
Souchong and Congo are not tatched, but only fired two or three times. The latter is most probable, 
but yet the former may be true; for as tatching seems to give the green colour to the leaves of the 
tea trees, so we may observe something of that greenness in the leaves of congo and souchong teas. 
Youngshaw further says, that the leaves of Souchong, Congo, Hyson, and fine Singlo trees are beat 
with flat sticks or bamboos, after they have been withered by the sun or air, and have acquired 
toughness enough to keep them from breaking, to force out of them a raw or harsh smell— Asiatic 
Researches. 
