The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-09
FACTS ABOUT YOUR TEA
FEW PEOPLE KNOW THAT ALL
KINDS COME FROM SAME TREE.
Common Article Differ Only I'm
Age and Treatment.
Chicago Tribune.

chicago
Many years ago it was believed that there
were two kinds of tea shrubs. one produc-
ing green tea and the other black. and this
idea was handed down in cyclopedias and
articles on tea by writer's, none Of whom
probably ever saw tea tree or knew any
thing of the manufacture of tea.
The fact is. there is only one genus OF
plant, camellia theifera, from which the tea
of commerce is produced, though there are
many species produced by difference in soil,
climate. liberalization and cultivation. All
the different kinds of tea-green, black,
golden tips. Pekoe. Oolong. Soochong.
Bohea, etc..-are made from the same bush.
Pure green tea is made by quickly, drying
the leaves after they are plucked. and black
tea is produced from the same kind of
leaves by drying them after they have been
withered and allowed to ferment or ripen
for a short time in heated room.
Pure green tea can be made by rolling the
leaves on a board in the sun or in a bowl
or pan over fire until they are thoroughly
dried, and their color would be that of
fresh mown dried grass as cut by lawn
mower. Green tea is not such because of its
color, but on account Of its unripeness, as
it has all the astringent. bitter qualities that
unripe dried fruit would have.
In making black tea a longer time is re-
quired. The leaf is first wilted or withered
and then left for time in a warm room to
ferment. This could be done by throwing
the leaves in pile, but this process would
be unequal, as the inner part would be fer
mented too much and the outer layers none
at all. and there would be no uniformity.
The modern scientific method is to wilt
the leaves in a machine by means of slow
fire. then to place the wilted leaves in shall
low bamboo trays, placed in room where
the heat is from ITO to $50 degrees. By plac-
ing the leaves in trays all are equally af
fected by the heat During this stage the
greatest watchfulness has TO be given, lest
the leaves being under are overfermented,
this depends the value of blac. tea. in
the same degree as fruit might not be ripe
enough or too ripe to suit the taste.
As good illustration of the difference
between pure green and black tea take
clover grass. Any one who has tasted green
clover as 1t is growing in the field knows
that it has a bitter, astringent taste, not at
all pleasant. Dry this grass quickly, so that
same unpleasant flavor. Take some of the
grass after 1t has fermented and turned
black and dried as hay. and 1t will have
surprised that cattle enjoy it. Any farmer
will say that TO make good clover hay 1t
must sweat in the cock or winrow before
it is gathered in. All he may know about
1t is that his grandfather or father said SO.
In the sweating or fermentation a chemical
change takes place: the starch becomes
sugar, and the hay is nutritious and palat-
able.
For long time it was supposed that the
tea tree was native of China, when so
little was known in the western world
about tea and its manufacture. There is
much Ignorance still about it, as / have
been asked If we sow the plant every year.
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harvest it with reaper. The thea camellia
is tree sometimes 40 feet high and foot
in diameter. as it is found in the forests Of
Assam. in India. 1t is now conceded that
here has been it's native home, whence the
seed or plants were taken 10 China across
the mountains and thence to Japan In the
forest II grows to wood. with few laurel-like.
large, tough leaves. For a plantation only
young, tender leaves are desired.
The seeds in appearance rance like Ike haaelnuts,
ing the acreage is prepared by frequent dig
ging and terracing, as the best plantations
are on the hillsides. Holes are dug four or
five feet apart each way. ready for the little
trees. When these are about one foot high
they are transplanted from the. nursery:
They are carefully protected and shielded
from the sun. They are pruned with a knife
or shears. and not allowed to grow more
than two and one-half to three feet high.
They remain dwarfed trees. the top one
mass of small trenches and the stem at the
age of thirty years not more than three
inches in diameter. During the first two
In the third year perhaps fifty pounds of
tea may be gathered from an acre. When
the plantation has arrived at maturity from
500 TO 500 pounds of tea may be gathered
from an acre.
The season commences in March and lasts
TIL November During this time there are
from ten to fifteen sproutings or ''fushes,"
as the growth of the young twigs is called.
From these the young leaves are picked, ac-
eeordng to the kind of tea desired, If the
nnest, the little tips at the top of the twig,
only few hours old, making tea costing
from 80 to 500 pound; then the next leaf
below below for flowing Pekoe. still further down
fekoe. Oolong, Soochong and down to the
long. harder leaf, Bohea. The old leaves are
not plucked, as they are withered. and to
pluck Iu them would injure the tree, The flow
TO adorn brides hair. When seed Is not
desired the flowers are pucked from the
tree and thrown away.
Since the tea industry has been assumed
Dy Europeans during the last thirty years
In India and Ceylon. inventors have been at
work: and various machines have been con-
structed Tor every process except that of
plucklng the leaves. 1t would be as difficult
to pick tea leaves as it would be to gather
raspberrtes with a machine.
This Is cleanly done. Each picker has a
little basket and plucks each leaf with the
thumb and foreinger. The different ma
sitting and packing. With them there is
scarcely any hand work on the leaves The
european tea houses are models of clea nil
ness: Bread in the best furnished bakeries
could not be more cleanly than the tea pro-
duced on these plantations
The tea industry in India and Ceylon is
almost entirely in the hands of Europeans
most of them we'll educated and all expe-
rienced in their business. They have made
as much or more advancement in the max
ing of tea as there has been improvement
in the dairy industry in the United States
In mentioning green tea used the ad-
Jective pure, for there can be pure green
tea. though as unfit for drinking as bitter
green fruit when dried would be for eating
There is scarcely any pure green tea in the
market. One reason for this is that among
the Chinese. each family has it's own tea
plat and makes up the product which is sold
to dealers, who find ii necessary to use
coloring matter TO give the various patches
a uniform color and make 1T fit for foreign
market.
Another reason Is that the Chinese being
a frugal people. wasting nothing after
sleeping leaves for their own use dry and
color the grounds for the American market,
for no colored green teas are admitted in the
European markets, and but little pure green
tea is used there The Chinese themselves
never use colored teas. and 1t is stated by
the best authority that seven-eighths of all
the tea exported from China is colored and
made in Japan, for If there is no colored
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