Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-01-08
The Old Maids Beverage.


The districts of China which supply
the greater portion of the teas exported
to Europe and America lie between thC
twenty-ffth and thirty-frst degree O
north latitude, and the best districts
are those between twenty-seVen anC
thirty-one degrees (Fortune.) The
plants are raised from seed, kept over
winter in moist earth and planted in
March three or four feet apart and look
like a garden of gooseberry bushes,
and they bear from the fourth to the
twelfth year, both inclusive. The
leaves are plucked by hand, chiefly by
women; and the season is from the
earliest spring to the end of June. The
first gathering is the best, afterWard
the leaves become tougher. The mode
of drying and roasting the leaves gem
orally and the specific processes by
which the green and black teas are sew
orally prepared, have been minutely
described by Mr.. Fortune, and from his
description, somewhat condensed we
learn: First, that in the process of dry
ing, the leaves are roasted, in such q
way as necessarily to bring about many
chemical changes within the substance
OF the leaves themselves, producing
the various favOrs, odors and tastes
which distinguish the different teas.
Secondly, that the mode of handling,
by which the leaves are converted re-
spectively into green and black teas, is
the cause of the different colors of
these two main varieties. Thus for the
green teas: 1. The leaves are roasted
almost Immediately after they are gath
cred. 2. They are dried off quickly
after the rolling process. The whole
operation is speedy and simple. Black
teas; 1. They are spread out for some
time after they are gathered, in the air.
2. They are then further tossed about
until they become soft and faccid. 8.
They are now roasted for q few
minutes and rolled; after which
they are exposed to the air for a
few hours in soft and moist site. 4.
Lastly, they are dried slowly over char
coal fires. It is by heightened expo
sure to the air, therefore, in the process
of drying, accompanied by, perhaps, q
slight heating and fermentation, that
the dark color and distinguishing flavor
are impaired to black teas Of COM
merce. The produce Of different dis
tricts varies in quality and flavor with
the climate, the soil and the variety Of
the plant cultivated, as well as with the
period at which the leaves are gath
cred and with the mode of drying
them. It may be fresh information for
our readers to be told that though tea
is used only as an illusion, it has been
long known that the spent leaves con-
tain the elements of one of the mostnu |
tritive of vegetable substances; and are
only not used on account Of the almost
tOughness of the leaves Of the
China teas supplied to foreign coun-
tries. But this toughRess does not OBJ
tain in the case Of Japanese teas, whose
leaves may be advantageously eaten
either with salt or sugar.
For imparting nice, uniform color,
or skin, to green teas, the Chinese use
a mixture Of Prussian blue and plaster
Of Paris (sulphate Of lime), the guam
tity varying slightly with the amount
of color required. This they do to
please the purchasers, but never use