Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-10-24
TEA MANUFACTURE.
Various Processes of Preparing Tea
for Market.

Each picking of a garden is in India
called "break" ard in China Il "chop."
But an Indian "break" is rarely above Il
hundred chests aud is often only twenty,
and it is absolutely even in quality
throughout, whereas II Chinese "chop"
may be run up 70 several hundred
chests or half chests, purporting to be
of even quality, but made up of many
pickings from different gardens, pro
ducing a mixture which is not uniform,
at the expense of the deterioration of
the better leaves. In India each days
picking is Immediately "withered",
and when perfectly and evenly withered
is rolled lightly by machine. In China
the withe,ed or partially withered
leaves are put into small cotton bags,
loosely tied and placed in open wooden
with numerous hoes. A man then gets
bags with his feet, with the object of
both rolling the leaves and exercising
the moisture. Next comes "fermenta-
tion." In India this is done in the
open air, without any eXtraneous aid,
and it is part of the skill of the planter
to know the exact moment when to arrest
the process, for Immediately the proper
point is reached the tea must be "fired. )"
In China, after the jumping process
above described, the tea is placed in
baskets and covered up with cotton or
felt mats, so as to retain the heat and
hasten the fermentation. After it has
stood thus covered up for certain time
it is taken out and "fired. This firing
is one of the most important of all the
proc sses, and requires great skill and
care. The Indian planter is most par
ticular to see that only the very best
hardwood charcoal is used, and that the
tea is so constantly turned over that
there is no chance of any of it getting
burned. A single basket of burned leaf
will spoil whole ''break." In China they
often make the tea ''smolly" by using
ill made charcoal, and sometimes "taI1y"
by firing with soft woods like fir and pine
The "tarry" flavor, it is said, viii not
develop until long after the tea has eft
China, and some waters bring it out
more disagreeab!y than Others The
following is, OF should be, the process
of "firing" by the charcoal system.
After the fire is ready, tubular basket,
narrow at the middle and wide at both
ends, is placed over it, and into this
tube sieve is dropped, covered with
tea leaves, shaken on it to about az inch
in thickness. The leaves have 10 be
carefully watched while the sieve is over
the fire, and after about five or six
minutes they are removed and rolled.
AS the balls of leaves come out of the
hands of the roller, they are p aaed in
heap ON the floor, and when all have
been !hus manipulated they are shaken
on to the sieve again and set over the
fire for a few minutes longer. They
may even sometimes be rolled and
fired third time until the leaves have
as umed the right dark color. When
is p aced thickly in the baskets and
again put over the fire. The attendant
makes a hole with his hand through the
centre of the mass, so as to allow vent
to the heat as we'll as to any smoke OF
vapor from the charcoal, and he then
covers it over with fiat basket. The
heat of the fire is now reduced, and the
tea is n lowed to remain over it until
perfect y dry. 1t has to lie constantly
watched and fire. ,uently stirred to insure
e.ual heating. " hen the firing is done
the black color of black tea shou d be
well established, although it aftelward
improves in appearance. The tea is
then winnowed and sitted through vari-
ous seves to divide il into the different
kinds. In In la, however, another pro
cess for firing tea has heen introduced
of ate years. II is called "sirocco,"
and is machine for supplying hot air,
which is superseding the charcoal pro-
cess. 1t is rapid in its work, and is said
to be superior in many ways. The leaf
is laid ont on wire-gau trays, which
are passed through the bot air machine
at IL temperature of 800 degrees, and in
from fifteen to twenty minutes the ca
is thoroughly fired. 1t is then p aced in
the ''slfters," which are worked by ma
ch merry, with either lateral or rotary
mo ion, and the different grades are
sifted out, such as dust, broken Pekoe
and Pekoe. The larger and coarser
leaves which do not pass through the
sieves are cut to an even size and
class ed as Pekoe Souchong.-LC Cham-