Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-05-18
Green Tea and Black Tea,


The following notice of trip to the Tea Plan
tations near Ningpu, will furnish useful hints 10
tea drinkers.
There are two or three opnins common in the
United States about green tea, which are great
mistakes One is, that the Chinese themselves
do not use green tea. But know this is a mis-
take, for have often seen them use it, and have
often had it given to me in visiting at their
houses. But they don't use such green tea as
is used in England and America. They most
commonly pick out the fine and dried parts, anu
separate them, calling one gun-powder, and an
other hyson and another hyson skin. Nor do
they use green tea which has any coloring mat
ter in it, of which more just below.
The second mistake is that the green tea is
made by roasting it on copper-plates, which turn
it green, and give it its sharp, astrngent quail
ties. | think this is an entire mistake. All the
green tea made about Zeetung, "a good many
thousand pounds,) is fried in iron pans | saw
and handled a number Of these pans, and do not
suppose that copper pan is used in the whole
region.
But if the Chinese don't make green tea on
copper pans, they do what is a great deal worse.
They mix Prussian blue with what is sold to for
egners, which gives it the greenish-blue color
it so often has, and something of its asringent
qualities. Prussian blue is poison; and the only
reason why green tea does those who use it at
home so little harm is, that it requires bat a
small quantity to color large amount of the tea.
But still, small as the quantity is, it does harm;
and the people not accustomed to the use of green
tea can hardly sleep after drinking it. ! have
been kept awake nearly all night by drinking a
cup or two of strong green tea. You may al
most always tell whether there is any Prussian
blue in the tea, by drawing off the infusion, and
placing it in white CLIP. If the infusion is
perfectly clear, and OF a slightly saffron green
color, it is all right; but if it has dirty appear
ance. as if there was some coloring matter sus-
pended in it, then there is some of the Prussian
blue, or something else, there But to make the
comparison properly, you ought to have some
unaduterated green tea, such as the Chinese use,
to compare with it, and in most cases you would
see the difference very easily.
You may ask, why do the Chinese put the
Prussan blue and such stufs, in the tea? 1t is
because the foreigners have taken notion that
green tea is not green tea unless it is very green.
People in England and America dent like the
green tea such as the Chinese use, and won't
buy it. Well, the Chinese are very accommo-
dating people, and they laugh in their sleeves,
and say, Since the foreigners want very green
tea, we'll give it to them; but they must pay us
little more for making it so green. | have
been told that little green tea goes to the United
States, that has not more or less ofPrussan blue,
or some other drug, added to give il higher
color. The foreigners who live in China very
seldom drink green tea aud | would advise you
to use none but the black. 1t is much better,
and has not the same stimulating effect on the
nerves that many people suffer from when they
drink the green. If you were here you might
drink as as much green tea as you like, for the
Chinese are far too wise to put drugs into their
own tea. And yet even here, where so much
green tea is raised black tea is more used by
the people, though the greater part of what is
used by the mass of the people, is very coarse
indeed, and not half SO good as our sassairas
tea.