Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1903.  J 
Tea. 
87 
prevent  heating,  which,  at  this  stage,  is  undesirable.  When  they 
are  completely  wilted  they  are  placed  in  heaps  for  about  an  hour, 
during  which  time  they  become  soft  and  moist  and  undergo  a  slight 
change  of  color.  They  are  then  put  in  the  roasting  pan  for  a  few 
minutes  roasting.  They  go  then  to  the  rolling  and  balling  table. 
The  balls  are  placed  on  bamboo  trays  and  stood  in  the  sunlight  for 
an  hour's  fermentation.  The  balls  are  then  broken  apart  and  the 
leaves  separated  from  each  other  and  spread  out  in  thin  layers  in 
the  sun.  When  first  spread  the  leaves  are  partly  greenish,  partly 
yellowish  and  partly  blackish  ;  but  at  the  end  of  two  or  three  hours 
they  become  uniformly  blackish.  They  are  then  ready  for  the 
second  roasting  and  rolling,  and  after  that  for  the  drying  or  firing- 
This  and  the  subsequent  operations  are  about  the  same  as  in  the 
case  of  green  tea,  except  that  the  black  tea  is  usually  given  three  or 
four  firings  and  the  firing  is  done  in  network  receptacles. 
While  the  principles  involved  are  always  the  same  there  are  many 
variations  in  the  above-described  processes.  They  lead  to  supposed 
or  actual  differences  in  the  resulting  product.  For  instance,  if  the 
wilting  be  done  by  artificial  heat  the  tea  will  have  a  greenish  tinge. 
There  is  said  to  be  a  relation  between  the  amount  of  twist  in  the 
leaf  and  the  strength  of  the  infusion  made  from  the  leaf.  Well- 
twisted  tea,  which  is  well-rolled  tea,  gives  the  stronger  infusion. 
This  is  possibly  due  to  the  fact  that  when  the  leaves  are  thoroughly 
rolled  the  juice  is  squeezed  out  and  is  then  mopped  up  again,  and 
this  is  repeated  several  times,  having  most  likely  some  effect  in 
making  the  leaves  yield  up  their  good  qualities  while  infusing. 
Robert  Fortune,  who  made  an  extended  trip  through  the  Chinese 
tea  districts  in  the  interests  of  the  East  India  Company  and  who, 
in  1849,  successfully  introduced  12,000  tea  plants  to  the  company's 
plantations  in  the  Northwest  provinces  by  the  novel  method  of 
planting  the  seeds  in  boxes  at  the  beginning  of  the  journey,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  sprouted  on  reaching  their  destination,  carefully 
observed  the  preparation  of  both  the  black  and  green  teas.  He 
summarizes  his  description  of  the  processes  as  follows : 
"  It  will  be  remarked,  then,  with  reference  to  green  tea:  (i)  that 
the  leaves  are  roasted  almost  immediately  after  they  are  gathered  ; 
and  (2)  that  they  are  dried  off  quickly  after  the  rolling  process. 
*  #  *  It  will  be  remarked,  therefore,  with  reference  to  the 
leaves  which  are  to  be  converted  into  black  tea:  (1)  that  they  are 
