The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1870-01-21

Interesting Facts About Tea.


the Chinese partially since almost the
Christian era and in general use among
them for the past eight centuries. 1t is OF
the camclia family, has dark green, thick
oily leaves, oblong in form, but two inches
long when fully grown and half an inch
wide. The blossoms are single, white,
inodorous and possess none of the quail
ties of the leaves. The plant when grow
inc wild, rs IL has been found in Assam,
sometimes attains the height of thirty feet;
but on the tea plantations Of China and
Japan, where IL is cultivated and stunted,
il is from four to six feet in height, and
contains many branches thickly covered
with leaves. The seeds are three in num-
Der. contained in nut, and are Of such an
oily, rich nature that they soon spoil.
These seeds are planted thickly, rs many
rot before they can terminate, and when
the young plants come up they are set in
rows about three feet apart. They are
plucked in their third year, and last from
sixteen to twenty years.
There are four gatherings- one in the
middle Of April, one early in June, one in
the middle Of July, and one at the end If
August All teas are of the same species,
and diller only from the nature of the soil
in which the plants are set. from the sea-
son when the leaves are gathered and from
the mode Of preparation. Thus the pecco
the flowcry pccco and the orange howery
pccco are the young buds gathered in
April and slowly dried in baskets in the
sun, the two latter being perfumed by be-
inc placed in baskets over the heated
flowers of the chloranthus, olea, aSlaia,
&C., and then Immediately boxed up.
The word pccco itselfmeans white hairs,
from the downy appearance the young
undeveloped leaves present. Bohea is the
name of the hills where that particular
kind of tea is produced. Souchong means
little plant, and the term has reference to
the mode of packing it. Gunpowder,
called in Chinese machu, derives its name
from the form in which il is rolled. Hy-
son, before the rain" denotes that the
leaves are plucked when tender, and is,
therefore, called young hyson. Oolong,
black dragon, simply signifies strong
black tea, and thus through various other
appellations.
The mode of preparation Of the leaves,
except the pecco or first gathering, is as
follows AFTER they arc gathered they
are examined. the yellow ones picked out
and the remainder spread in bamboo trays
and exposed TO the sun until they soften.
They are then repeatedly gently rolled
and rubbed until red spots appear. The
rolling is called kunu fu cha or congu.
After this rolling they are placed thinly
spread on iron pans and put over slow
fire until the leaves swell and crack, when
they are brushed off and others substitut-
ed. They are then rolled on tables of split
bamboo and green acrid oil forced out.
After this rolling they are placed in bask-
ct trays and exposed to the air to dry.
After drying they areagain placed in the
pans and rolled over very gentle fire un-
ill they present the shrivellcd, twisted ap-
pearance we see. These are the process
es gone through with finer qualities Of tea;
the coarser do not receive so many.
Green and black tea are the same, only
that the younger leaf is more usually
employed in the green and that the black
tea is literally more charred and dried than
the green, in which, because 1t is exposed
10 less heat. more of the essential acrid
oil rcmains-an oil so acrid that the work
men at the fires are obligedto cover their
mouths and at the rolling tables their
hands 10 protect themselves from the irri-
tating effects. This may be the reason
why green tea effects the nervous system
so much more than black. r-r
It is erroneous to suppose that the green
teas are colored by the yerdigris on the
pans in which they are heated. There is
no verdigris on the heated pans, nor arr
pans brass or copper but they do roll
some Of the inferior kind of green teas in
powdered turmeric to beget n yellow tint
and then in mixture Of Prussian blue
and gypsum or indigo and gypsum to give
the desired green color to shade. These
poisonous substances are in such minute
quantities, however, that they cannot dc
any material harm. ....