Tea-curing and tire.--Whether obtained from one species only of the genus rhea, or from several, all the tea of China is in commerce brought under two distinct terms, green tea and black tea. These are also distinguished as hyson and bohea. The European name tea is borrowed from the common language of the province Fu.kian (Fokien of D'Afiville), where this article is called Tiff in their patois : at Canton it is called Tscha or Tscbai. Black tea is called He-tacha, green tea Lo-tscha. The sub varieties owe their names to other circumstances, the number of which is endless. Thus there occur in the catalogues of the Chinese merchants at least one hundred and fifty names, many of which are syrionymee of other aorta, or names invented to impose on foreigners and obtain a high price. The distinguished Oriental scholar, Klaproth, gives a list of about forty genuine varieties, with an explanation of the terms applied to them. Thus Pak-ho, corrupted into Pekoe, merely means " white down," being the first sprouts, or yet hairy leaf-buds of young plants, three years old, after their first flowering. With us it is applied only to a black tea ; but it is equally applicable to a green tea, which is never brought to Europe, as it is so delicate and slightly fired as to spoil by the least damp.
Though it is stated that black tea may be cured as green tea, and green tea as black, the green being cured without fermentation to which black tea is always subjected, certain it is that the preparation of the respective kinds is carried on in different parts of the empire, and a different practice pursued with the leaves from the first stage. In the green teas the leaves only are taken, being nipped off above the foot-etalk or petiole, while of the black teas the foot-stalk is always collected. " Thus black tea contains much of the woody fibre, while the green is exclusively the fleshy part of the leaf itself ; which is one good reason why it should be dearer." (Davis's China,' p. 351.) Besides this, the constant removal of the young leaf-buds, by which the plant is prevented from being clothed with full grown leaves, which alone can elaborate the sap and contribute to the further growth of the shrub, causes it to perish earlier, and compels a more frequent renewal of the plantations. Indeed some cultivators restrict the gathering of the leaves to two harvests, instead of three, to save their plants. Those of the third gathering are large and coarse. and often so rigid that they cannot be rolled. This yields a tea so inferior in quality that it is con sumed only by the poorest of the natives, or, when very bad, is, as are some of the finer kinds when spoiled, used fur dyeing.
Such are the pains taken to ensure the excellence of the finest sorts of green tea, that for two or three weeks before the harvest commences the collectors, who are trained to this business from a very early age, are prohibited from eating fish or other kinds of food reckoned unclean, lest by their breath they should contaminate the leaves, They are also made to take a bath two or three times a day, and not allowed to gather the leaves with the naked fingers, but always with glo, es. The finest tea may, if the proper time for gathering it be
neglected, be changed into an inferior tea in one night. It is necessary to roast the leaves the same evening that they are collected, for if kept till the following day they ferment, become black, and lose much of their virtue. Previous to putting them into the iron pans or furnaces, which are heated by charcoal, they are dipped fur about half a minute into boiling water. About half or three-quarters of a pound of leaves are put into the pan at once, and diligently stirred, to prevent them from being burnt. They are then removed with a shovel and thrown on math or into baskets ; and while yet hot the soft leaves are rolled between the palms of the hands, during which operation a quantity of yellowish green juice exudes from them. This process of roasting and rolling is often repeated even to the sixth or seventh time. This method is called the dry way : hut by the icet way the leaves are first exposed to the vapour of boiling water, after which they are rolled and dried on the iron pans like the others. leaves prepared in the wet way have a bright green colour ; those by the dry, a dark green verging to brown. From the green tea, when prepared in the dry way, less of the above-mentioned juice exudes, a circumstance to which the greater strength of green tea is in some degree owing. The larger leaves are generally selected to be prepared in the wet way. By the process of roasting the leaves lose two-thirds of their weight ; so that three pounds of fresh leaves dry into one pound of tea fit for preserva tion. It is by the process of roasting that the flavour is first developed, the leaves when fresh being as insipid as the bean of coffee before heat is applied. Siebold is of opinion that the agreeable violet-like flavour of tea is inherent in the leaves themselves; but most writers ascribe the different flavours of the choicer kinds of tea to the admixture of the flowers, leaves, or oils of a variety of different plants. The chief of these are the Olea fragrans, C7doranthus inconspicuus, Gardenia forida, Aglaia odorata, Moqorium (Jasminum) Sambac, Vitex spicata, Camellia Sasanqua, and C. oleifera, Illiciurn anisatum, Magnolia Tulare, and the Rosa Indica odoratissima, as well as the root of the Iris florentina, and Curcuma longs or turmeric, and the oil of Bi.ra Oreilana. The Chinese annually dry many millions of pounds of the leaves of different plants, to mingle with the genuine, such as those of ash, plum, &c.; so that all the spurious leaves found in parcels of bad tea must not be sup posed to be introduced into them by the dealers in this country. While the tea trade was entirely in the hands of the East India Com pany, few of these adulterated teas were shipped for this country, as experienced and competent inspectors with large salaries were kept at Canton, to prevent the exportation of such in the Company's ships ; but since the trade has been opened, all kinds find a ready outlet ; and, as the demand often exceeds the supply, a manufactured article is furnished to the rival crews.