This Is Effected With Such Rapidity, That It Requires A Person's Undivided Attention To Perceive That No More Than One Leaf Is Rolled Up At A Time.

After this, all the leaves are placed once more in the pan.

Black tea takes some time to roast, and the green is frequently coloured with Prussian blue, an exceedingly small quantity of which is added during the second roasting. Last of all the tea is once more shaken out upon the large boards, in order that it may be carefully inspected, and the leaves that are not entirely closed are rolled over again.

Before I left, the proprietor conducted me into his house, and treated me to a cup of tea prepared after the fashion in which it is usually drunk by rich and noble Chinese. A small quantity was placed in a China cup, boiling water poured upon it, and the cup then closed with a tightly-fitting cover. In a few seconds the tea is then drank and the leaves left at the bottom. The Chinese take neither sugar, rum, nor milk with their tea; they say that anything added to it, and even the stirring of it, causes it to lose its aroma; in my cup, however, a little sugar was put.

The tea-plant, which I saw in the plantations round about Canton, was at most six feet high; it is not allowed to grow any higher, and is consequently cut at intervals. Its leaves are used from the third to the eighth year; and the plant is then cut down, in order that it may send forth new shoots, or else it is rooted out. There are three gatherings in the year; the first in March, the second in April, and the third, which lasts for three months, in May. The leaves of the first gathering are so delicate and fine that they might easily be taken for the blossom, which has no doubt given rise to the error that the so-called "bloom or imperial tea" is supposed not to consist of the leaves but of the blossom itself. {114} This gathering is so hurtful to the plant that it often perishes.

I was informed that the tea which comes from the neighbourhood of Canton is the worst, and that from the provinces somewhat more to the north the best. The tea manufacturers of Canton are said to possess the art of giving tea that has been frequently used, or spoiled by rain, the appearance of good tea. They dry and roast the leaves, colour them yellow with powdered kurkumni, or light green with Prussian blue, and then roll them tightly up. The price of the tea sent to Europe varies from fifteen to sixty dollars (3 to 12 pounds) a pikul, of 134 lb. English weight. The kind at sixty dollars does not find a very ready market; the greater part of it is exported to England. The "bloom" is not met with in trade.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 122 of 364
Words from 62745 to 63244 of 187810