CHINESE  METHOD  OF  SCENTING  TEA. 
529 
CHINESE  METHOD  OP  SCENTING  TEA  * 
A  few  years  ago,  I  sent  you  an  account  of  the  Chinese  method 
of  dyeing  teas  with  Prussian  blue  and  gypsum,  to  suit  our  de- 
praved tastes  in  England  and  America.  I  shall  now  endeavor 
to  describe  a  much  more  agreeable  and  rational  manufac- 
ture— namely,  that  of  scenting  teas.  That  it  is  so  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Chinese,  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact,  that  while  they  dye 
their  teas,  not  to  drink,  but  only  to  sell,  they  consume  and  ap- 
preciate highly  these  scented  teas.  The  following  account  of  this 
interesting  process  is  copied  from  my  journal  :— 
"  I  have  been  making  inquiries  for  some  time  past,  about  the 
curious  process  of  scenting  teas  for  the  foreign  markets ;  but  the 
answers  I  received  to  my  questions  were  so  unsatisfactory,  that 
I  gave  up  all  hopes  of  understanding  the  business,  until  I  hadan 
opportunity  of  seeing  and  judging  for  myself.  During  a  late 
visit  to  Canton,  I  was  informed  the  process  might  be  seen  in  full 
operation  in  a  tea  factory  on  the  island  of  Honan.  Messrs. 
Walkinshaw  and  Thorburn,  two  gentlemen  well  acquainted  with 
the  various  kinds  of  teas  sent  annually  to  Europe  and  America, 
consented  to  accompany  me  to  this  factory,  and  we  took  with  us 
the  Chinese  merchant  to  whom  the  place  belonged.  I  was  thus 
placed  in  a  most  favorable  position  for  obtaining  a  correct  know- 
ledge of  this  curious  subject.  When  we  entered  the  tea  factory, 
a  strange  scene  was  presented  to  our  view.  The  place  was 
crowded  with  women  and  children,  all  busily  engaged  in  picking 
the  stalks  and  yellow  or  brown  leaves  out  of  the  black  tea.  For 
this  labor  each  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  six  cash  a  catty,  and 
earned  on  an  average  about  sixty  cash  a  day — a  sum  equal  to 
about  three  pence  of  our  money.  The  scene  altogether  was  not 
unlike  that  in  the  great  Government  cigar  manufactory  at 
Manilla.  Men  were  employed  giving  out  the  tea  in  its  rough 
state,  and  in  receiving  it  again  when  picked.  With  each  portion 
of  tea,  a  wooden  ticket  was  also  given,  which  ticket  had  to  be  re- 
turned along  with  the  tea.  In  the  northern  tea  countries,  the 
leaves  are  carefully  weighed  when  they  are  given  out  and  when 
they  are  brought  back,  in  order  to  check  peculation,  which  is 
*  Athenceum,  July  21,  1855. 
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