Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/628

 600 TEA young leaves, no portion of the petiole or leaf stalk must be gathered with the liner kinds of tea. If left in large masses, so that heating or natural fermentation takes place, the leaves are greatly injured. The manipulations to which they are subjected vary greatly, and are often prolonged and repeated in various ways. As each locality has its traditional treatment, supposed to be necessary, the accounts of the process vary greatly ; in all, however, the first step is to prevent the fermentation of the leaves, by exposing them in shallow baskets to the sun and air, which withers and slightly dries them. They are then placed in small quantities in a shallow copper or iron pan heated by charcoal or other fuel, and rapidly stirred ; at the prop- er moment they are swept out into other ves- sels or upon a table, where other workmen rub the leaves between their hands in order to roll them into the form which they finally retain ; exposure to the air and a final heating complete the process with some teas, while with others there are several heatings, alter- nated with airings ; the choicer teas are spread out upon a table to be assorted before packing, all imperfectly rolled leaves being removed and the dust and fine fragments sifted out. The chest with its leaden lining being ready, one bare-footed laborer gets into it, and another gradually pours in the leaves, which the first treads down firmly, and as soon as the case is full the leaden cover is soldered down. If the process of drying is completed as rapidly as possible after picking, the tea remains green ; but for black tea the process is prolonged, and repeated with long intervals of exposure, some- times for a whole night, in order that a kind of fermentation may take place. Sometimes two qualities are made from the same picking by sifting the finer leaves from the coarser after they are dried. Apart from the tedious labor of picking the crop leaf by leaf, the ne- cessity for these many small operations before the tea is ready for use will prevent its suc- cessful culture in this country, where the cost of labor is already a serious problem in the cultivation of the ordinary farm crops. It re- quires about 4 Ibs. of fresh leaves to make 1 Ib. of dried tea, and the yield per acre is from 300 to 400 Ibs. Certain districts in China produce either green or black tea exclusively. A third sort, the scented teas, is recognized in commerce. The scenting is generally due to the admixture of certain flowers, and while it is sometimes practised upon choice kinds, it is more frequently employed to give inferior kinds a better flavor ; the principal flowers used are those of tea-olive, olea (or oamanthus) fragrans (see OLIVE), and the chulan (ckloranthus incon- spicuus)] but those of the cape jasmine (Gar- denia) are sometimes employed. The flow- ers are laid with the leaves under pressure, or are dried with them and afterward sifted out. The classes of tea are subdivided, and names, not always permanent, are given to sub varie- ties founded upon the size and age at which the leaf is picked. Of the Chinese teas, the principal black sorts are bohea, congou, sou- chong, caper, oolong, pekoe, and others. Bo- hea is the coarsest of these, and its importation has greatly fallen off of late years. The high- est quality of black tea is pekoe, which con- sists of the very youngest leaves of the first picking ; these, when so young that they are still clothed with down, constitute the flowery pekoe. Among the green teas are twankay, hyson skin, young hyson, hyson, imperial, and gunpowder. The gunpowder in green tea corresponds with the pekoe in black, and like that is from the first gatherings ; imperial, hy- son, and young hyson are grades made from the second and third pickings, while the infe- rior light leaves, winnowed from the hysons, make the hyson skin, the chief market for which is found in this country. The brick tea of Thibet is probably the poorest of all ; it gets its name from the shape of the blocks into which refuse tea and tea sweepings are made by mixing them with bullock's blood and drying by fire heat ; the bricks are wrapped in paper or sewed up in sheep skins, and are rarely ex- ported except as a curiosity. The teas from India have a separate nomenclature. The finer teas, both black and green, are rarely seen in this country; if packed in large parcels, or conveyed in the hold of a ship, a fermenta- tion or change takes place which destroys their quality ; a large share of the crop is consumed by the wealthy Chinese, and a portion of it finds its way by overland conveyance to Russia. Teas are subject to various adulterations in China, and in the countries where they are sold, including the mixing of different qualities, and the coloring and other treatment to im- prove the looks of inferior kinds. The ma- nipulation of poor teas to give them a finer appearance is carried on in China, and there are establishments in both England and Amer- ica engaged in the business. The glazing or facing of teas is done with plumbago or black lead, added in fine powder to the tea in a re- volving cylinder where the mutual attrition imparts to the leaves a peculiarly smooth and glossy appearance. Green teas, being in this country especially popular (their higher price conveying the idea that they are of better quality), are produced to meet the demand by coloring cheaper black kinds. The principal materials used in coloring are "China clay," or terra alba (largely found in this country and exported), Prussian blue, and turmeric ; some- times gypsum and indigo are used ; the color- ing matters, mixed in proportions to produce the desired shade, are added to the slightly moistened tea, and the whole agitated until the color becomes evenly distributed and the leaves by rubbing together become glazed. This treatment, with variations in the manipulation, is so general that but very little uncolored green tea is offered for sale. The coloring and facing are readily detected by examining the leaves under the microscope as an opaque