Foh-kien yields the small and closely-twisted red and brown leaf congous, but the finest of this kind, caled Kai-shan, come from a district near the town of Shama. The principal market for these teas is Fu-chu, but those produced in the southern part of the province of Foll-kien are sent to Amoy.
The best congou of the Kwang-tung province is cailed Tay-shan congou. The leaves are long and wiry, and of a brownish-black hue. Much of it is sold at Macao.
In recent years a good imitation of red-leaf congou, small and twisted leaves, has been made at Canton and exported to Great Britain, to which also the red-leaf sorts are sent, and in smaller quantities t,o the United States, packed in chests or half-chests of from 40 to GO lbs. Tay shan congous are packed in boxes from 20 to 30 lbs., and black-leaf congous in chests containing 85 to 110 lbs.
Souchong tea has the same reddish or brownish colours as the red-leaf congou. Souchong is a class of tea very similar to congou. Fine sou chong is produced only in the N.E. part of tho province of Foh-kien. The picked leaves are spread out in the open air to dry, then trodden by labourers, and piled for one night in Large heaps, each of which is covered carefully with a cloth. Next morning every particle of it is carefully rubbed between the hands, and for three hours dried over charcoal fires. The method of making souchong is similar in all respects to that of making congou. The first crop of souchong is only fired once, but is afterwards exposed to the sun's rays.
Rowery Pekoe, a fancy tea, is little made. It is prepared from leaf-buds which are exposed to the sun to dry as soon as they are gathered and then sold to the wholesale proprietors of hongs, who filially fire the leaves over a slow lire, and then pack them. The leaves have a downy appearance, and vary in colour, some being yellow, some black. It is exported from Fu-chu, and a little froin Canton, to England.
Oo-long ten is produced in the province of Foh kien. It is of some importance in trade, and is exported from the Fu-elin and Amoy ports largely to the United States and to England and Australia. In preparing it, the leaves when gathered are spread out to dry ; they are then sprinkled or moistened with water, and eventually fired in the same manner S congou. The planters then sell
them to the tea bongs, whose workmen pick out all the stems and bad leaves. After this, the leaves are again moistened with water and once more fired. When leaves have been collected sufficient to form a chop, they are all mixed together and once again fired. In appearance they are yellow, with a black or dirt-green tint ; in form they are bold, irregular, somewhat wiry, and not closely twisted.
Scented Orange Pekoe is made in the provinces of Quang-tong and Foh-kien. Those manufac tured in the Quang -tong province are called Canton scented orange pekoe ; those from Foil kien are Fu-chu scented orange pekoe. In their manufacture, the leaves are spread out in the open air to dry ; labourers then rub them between the palms of their hands to impart a twisted or crumpled appearance to them, and they are sent in that stage of manufacture to the markets of Canton and Fu-chu, where they are immediately unpacked and baked over a slow fire, and mixed with the flowers of the Arabian jasmine. When they are supposed to have sufficiently imbibed the fragrance, they are separated from the jasmine flowers by means of sieves. Fine kinds of scented orange pekoe are twice scented. They are not fired a second time. The leaves of the Fu-chu scented orange pekoe are small and closely twisted, of a yellow colour, with a brownish or blackish tinge. The Canton scented orange pekoe is long, wiry, closely twisted, and black, with occasionally a yellowish or greenish tinge. The black colour is produced by a mixture of powdered charcoal. Scented orange pekoe is invariably packed in boxes, and is exported to Great Britain ; a small quantity from Fu-chu to Australia.
Scented Caper is made in the same manner as the scented orange pekoe. It consists, in fact, of pellet-shaped leaves, separated by a sifting pro cess from the leaves of scented orange pekoe. Those prepared at Fu-chu are yellowish and brown ish or blackish, whereas those manufactured at Canton are black or brown, with an occasional tinge of yellow or green. The tea made into caper at Canton is grown upon an extensive range of hills in the district of Hok-shan, one of the counties forming the prefecture of Kwang Chu-fu.