Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-05

the dust, and afterwards sorted into the vari- ous descriptions of green tea. Finally, the finer kinds are again fired three or four times and the coarse kinds, as tWankay, hyson, and hyson skin, once. The others furnish the young hyson. gunpowder, imperial, etc. Tea cured in this way is called Iuh cha, or green tea, by the Chinese, while the other, or black tea, is termed hung cha or red tea, each name being taken from the tint of the infusion.
 Black tea. After the fresh leaves are allowed to lie exposed to the air on the bamboo trays over night or several hours, they are thrown into the air and tossed about and patted, till they become soft; Q heap is made up of these wilted leaves and left to lie for an hour or more, when they have become moist and dark In color. They are then thrown on the hot pans for five minutes and rolled on the rattan table, previous to exposure out-of-doors for three or four hours on sieves. during which time they are turned over and opened out. Af- ter this they get second roasting and rolling to give them their final curl. When the char coal fire is ready, basket shaped something like an hour glass is placed endways over it, having sieve in the middle on which the leaves are thinly spread. When dried five minutes in this way, they undergo another rolling, and are then thrown into heap, un- til all the lot has passed over the fire. When this firing is finished, the leaves are opened out and are again thinly spread on the sieve in the basket for few minutes, which hnlsh- es the drying and rolling for most of the heap, and makes the leaves a uniform black. They are now replaced in the basket in great CT mass, and pushed against it's sides by the hands in order to allow the heat to come up through the sieve, and the vapor to es- cape Q basket over all retains the heat, but the contents are turned over until perfectly dry, and the leaves become uniformly dark.
 It will be seen from this that green tea re- tains far more of the peculiar oil and sap in the leaves than the black, which undergo 2 partial fermentation. and emit Q sensibly warm vapor as they lie in heaps after the first roasting. They thus become oxidized by longer contact in warm moist state with the atmosphere. and delicate analysis will detect greater amount of oxidized insoluble extract in an infusion of black than green tea. The same difference has been observed in drying medicinal plants, as hemlock, belladona, etc., for the apothecary's shop.
 Green teas are mostly produced in the re- zion south of the Yantsze River and west of Ningpo among the hills as you go toward the Poyang Lake in Chshkiang and Nganhwui. The black tea comes from Euhhiek in the s. E. and Hupeh and Human in the central region; Kwangtung and Szechuen produce both black, green, and brick tea. While the leaves of each species of the shrub can be cured into either green or black tea, the work men in one district are able, by practice, to produce one kind in superior style and qual- ity those in another region will do better with another kind. Soil too has great infiu- ence it has in grape culture, in modifying the produce. Though the natives distinguish only these three kinds, their varieties are far too numerous to remember, and the names are mostly unknown in commerce.
 Of black teas, the great mass is called Con gou. or the s'well-worked," a name which took the place of Bohea of 150syears ago, and is now itself giving way to the term English Breakfast tea. The finest sorts are either named from the place of their growth, or more frequently have fancy appellstions in allusion to their color, or form. Orange pekoe is named t'su- psrior perfume;" pure pekoe is "Laotsz eye brows;'' s'carnation hair," fred plum blos- som, sslotus kerneI,'' 'ssparrow's tongue" ':dragon's pellet, 7" dragons whiskers," :" 'tau tumn dew," ''pearl flower" or chong and Powchong refer to the modes of packing.
 In the trade, teas are more commonly classi- fled by their locality than their names, as it is found that well marked differences In the style of the produce continue year after year, all equally well cured tea. These arise from di- versailles in soil, climate, age, and manufac- turing; and furnish materials for still further multiplying the sorts by skillfully mixing them. Thus in black teas we have Human, and Hupak, from two provinces, just as Georgia uplands and Sea Island, indicate two sorts of cotton; Ningyong, Kaisow, Ho- hau, Sing chune-kye, &c., and many others, which are unknown out of China, are all names ofplaces. One gentleman has given list of localities, each furnishing it's quota and peculiar pro duct, amounting in all to 45 for black and 9 for green. The area of these regions is about 470 900 sq. miles.
 It will have been seen, already, that the color of green tea, as well as it's quality, de- pends very much on rapid and expert drying. When this kind is intended for homo con sumption soon after it is made, the color is of little consequence but when the hue in huences the sale then it is not to be over looked by the manufacturer or the broker. The first tea brought to Europe was from Fuhkien and all black but as the trade extended pro bably some of the delicate Tyson sorts were now and then seen at Canton, and their ap- pearance in England and Holland appreciated, as more and more were sent. It was found, however, to bevery difficult to maintain uni form tint. If cured too slightly, the leaf was liable to fermentation during the voyage; if cured too much it was unmarketable, which for the manufactures was worse yet. Chinese ingenuity was equal to the call Though no patent office was at hand to register the date when coloring green tea commenced, 1t is probably more than 100 years since. The 342 chests and half chests which were so summarily opened on board the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, and their con- tents thrown overheard in Boston harbor on Dsc 18th, 1773, furnishes probably no index of the consumption of tea in New England at that time. It was all called Bohea by John Adams, who speaks of three cargoes, as if the vessels had nothing else of note in their holds. He adds, "This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and infexi- ble, and it must have so important conse- quences and so lasting, that l cannot but con- sider it an epocha in history"
 lam not now concerned with the details and results of that destruction SO much as with it's other aspects. The East India Con- greatly on the taste for tea among the colo nists to work in their behalf in the scheme to sell it in spite of the patriots. The number of packages on board of the Dart mouth is stated at S4 chests, and 34 half chests, respectively, and if the other two were in the same proportion, they each carried only about 7760 pounds or g, 2SO pounds in all. It may be safely inferred from the name, Bohea, that it was all black tea, for those eel ebrated hills have always furnished that kind.
 What substitutes were used by the New England housewives after their supplies were stopped in this summary way, may have been various according to their several tastes. Bar ley was roasted and ground to large extent, and boiled as beverage, while the whiskey, perry, cider, and rum trades. no doubt, four ished. One thing is certain, that the news papers and journals of that date, the reports Of speeches, the re6OluClOnS or patrlOtlc meeG- ings, the letters and bill posters, are all re- plete with objurgatory epithets and adjectives applied to the word tea, stronger far than are now bestowed on the more potent spirituous compounds. It is branded as poisonous, de- testable and viIlainous and epithetslike fatal, cruel, fendish, devilish, are freely scattered about to express it's miserable nature. Some times few leaves were put into bowl of punch.
 Dr. Holmes, in his ballad on the Boston Tea party at it's Centennial celebration Esays in the last verse
 'The waters in the rebel bay,
 Have kept the tea-lesf ssvor,
 Our old North Enders in their spray,
 Stfn taste Hyson flavor;
 And Freedoms teacup still o'erhoHs,
 With ever fresh hbations,
 To cheat of slumber all her foes,
 And cheer the widening nations.
 It has been noticed that emigrants to Australia, who had seldom tasted green tea before leav- ing England. usually prefer it in their new homes, as new settlers do in this country. The prevailing notion that green tea is cured on copper, arose no doubt from the conclu- .En