Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-17
Green, Black and ALI Kinds From
the Same Bush,
SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF MAKING
The Differences Are in the Time
Taken for Curing.
TREE NOT A NATIVE OF CHINA
From the Chicago Tribune.

| many years ago IL was believed that
| there were two kinds of tea shrubs one
| producing green tea and the other black
| ard this idea was handed down I'm CYCLIC
| pedfas and articles on tea by writers. none
/ Of whom probably ever saw a tea tree or
knew anything 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 cultiva-
ton All the different kinds OF tea-green
black, golden tips. Pekoe. oolong. 500
| chong. 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 a
heated room.
| Pure green tea can be made by rolling
| the leaves a board in the sun or in a
! eoWi or pan over fire until they are thor
| ouShly dried and their color would he that
| OF fresh mown dried grass as cut by a
| lawn mower. Green tea is not such be-
| cause Of its color, but account of its
| unripeness. as ii has all the astrngent,
! 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 a pile but this process would
| be unequal. as the inner part would be
| fermented too much and the outer layers
none at all, and there would be no uni
formity.
Modern Scientific Method.
The modern scientific method is to wilt
| the leaves in machine by means OF a slow
| fire, then to place the wilted leaves in shall
low bamboo trays. placed In room where
the heat is from 10 degrees to 100 degrees.
! BY placing the leaves In trays all are
| equally affected by the heat. During this
| stage the greatest watchfulness has TO be
given lest the leaves being under are over
| fermented, on this depends the value OF
| black tea, in the same degree fruit might
not be ripe enough or too ripe TO suit the
| taste.
| As a good illustration of the difference
| between pure green and black tea. take
clover grass. Any one who has tasted
| green clover as it is growing in the field
| knows that 1t has bitter. astringent taste.
| not at all pleasant. Dry this grass quickly
| SO that its color remains green. and il viii
have the same unpleasant flavor. Take
some of the grass after il has fermented
and turned black and dried as hay and il
| will have a sweet. agreeable flavor, and one
| is not surprised that cattle enjoy it, Any
| farmer will say that to make good clover
| hay il must sweat in the cock or w!nrOw
| before it is gathered in. All he may know
about it 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 palatable.
For long time 1t was supposed that the
| tea tree was a 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. II
We NOW ii with a scythe, or could we har-
| a Thea lNamGllfa
| is a tree sometimes forty feet high. and
| foot in diameter II is found in the for
| ests of Assam, in India. 1t is
| coded that here has been it's native home,
whence the seed or plants were taken to
China across the mountains and thence to
| Japan. In the forest it grows TO wood.
| with few laurel-like, large, tough leaves.
For plantation only young, tender leaves
| are desired.
Picking the Leaves.
The seeds, in appearance like hazelnuts.
| are sown in a nursery. While they are
| growing the acreage is prepared by fire.
| quent digging 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 al
| lowed to grow more than two and one-hah
| to three feet high. They remained 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. Dur
| ing the first two years no leaves are
plucked.
In the third year perhaps fifty pounds of
| tea may be gathered from acre. When
the plantation has arrived at maturity
| from 800 to 800 pounds of tea may be gath
cred from acre.
| The season commences in March and lasts
NnVaynhQr Dnrinp FbAro
from ten to fifteen sproutings Pushes
as the growth of the young twigs is called
From these the young leaves are picked,
according to the kind of tea desired IL
the finest, the little tips at the top of the
! twig, only few hours old. making tea
costing from $50 to 500 pound; then the
next leaf below for flowing Pekoe: still
further down Pekoe, Oolong, SoOchong and
down to the long harder leaf, Bohea The
old leaves are not plucked. they are
withered, and to pluck them would injure
the tree. The flowers are never used
though beautiful enough to adorn q brides
hair. When seed is not desired the flowers
are plucked from the tree and thrown
away.
The India and CeyIon Industry.
Since the tea industry has been assumed
by Europeans. during the last thirty years
| in India and Ceylon, inventors have been at
| work. and various machines have been con-
structed for every process except that of
| plucking the leaves. 1t would be as difficult
to pick tea leaves as 1t would lie to gather
raspberrtes with a machine.
This is clearly done. Each picker has a
little basket and plucks each leaf with the
thumb and forefinger. The different ma
chimes are for whitening. rolling, drying,
sitting and packing. With them there is
scarcely any hand work on the leaves The
European tea houses are models of clean
illness. Bread in the best furnished bak-
cries could not be more cieanly than the
tea produced on these plantations.
The tea industry in India and Ceyion Is
almost entirely in the hands of Europeans
most of them well educated and all ex-
perienced In their business. They have
made as much or more advancement i'm the
making of tea as there has been Improve
ment in the dairy industry in the United
States.
Cofored and UncoIored Tea.
In mentioning green tea used the adjec-
tive pure, for there can be pure green tea.
though as unfit for drinking as bitter green
fruit when dried would be for eating. There