473
Appendix
Report on the Tea
Trade.
[64]
The territory in which the large amount of tea consumed in Europe and America is grown is south of the Great Yan-tze-Keang river; the whole region lying between the 27th and 31st degrees of north latitude, and from the sea coast inland for 500 to 600 miles, may be considered capable of producing tea; but the most favoured region is the generally sterile hilly province of Fokien, and the provinces of Keangsoo and Chekeang, between the 25th and 31st degrees of north latitude. This territory, which extends over 350 to 400 square miles, is composed principally of the debris of a coarse granite, and of a ferruginous sandstone, crumbling into decay; but when well comminuted and irrigated, yielding sufficient nutriment for the hardy tea plant (a camellia), whose qualities, like that of the vine, are elicited by the nature of the soil, the elevation, the climate, and the solar aspect to which the shrub is subjected*.
It is generally stated that green and black teas are produced from the shrubs of the same species, with a slight variety; the leaf of the green being larger and broader than that of the black; the former leaf is rounded, the latter elliptic, flatter, and more coriaceous.
The cultivation in different soils, the picking of the leaves at different stages of expansion, and subjecting them to greater or less degree of heat and manipulation in drying, is the cause of considerable variety; probably the same difference exists as between the red and white grape, or the black and white currant.
The shrub is cultivated with great care, planted in quincunx rows, in beds, by seeds, chiefly along the sides of hills with a southern aspect, and on a poor gravelly soil, among the debris of decayed granite and disintegrated sandstone, and where nothing else will grow, and it is used for hedgerows or boundaries.
The height varies from three to seven feet, and it is very leafy. The flower resembles the wild rose or briar flower, common in English hedges in autumn; the seed vessel is a nut of the size of a small hazel, or rather like the castor-oil nut, but rounder; three red kernels are in each nut, divided by capsules, and from these a quantity of oil, termed "tea oil," is extracted, and used for common purposes by the Chinese. Six or seven seeds are put into each hole when planting; in 12 or 18 months transplantation takes place, and about the third year the leaves are first plucked. At seven years of age the top is cut almost down to the stem (as gardeners do with old currant trees), and a more leafy set of shoots spring up the ensuing year.
The age of the tree is unknown; it has a useful duration, probably to 15 or 20 years. It is an evergreen, and blossoms from the end of autumn throughout the winter until spring. The leaves are dried by placing them first in flat baskets, and exposing them to the air and a moderate degree of sun. They are then further dried or "tatched" in thin pans of iron, heated by a small furnace of charcoal, the leaves being kept constantly turned round by the hand, and rolled or rubbed between the fingers, to give the leaf a rounded form. When sufficiently fired, it is picked and packed for Canton in chops of 100 to 1,000 chests, each chop having marked on it the name of the maker, the district where the tea is grown, its quality, date, &c.
Copper is not used in the preparation of any description of tea; iron pans are solely employed. I visited a tea manufactory five miles above Canton, where about 500 men, women, and children were engaged in converting coarse-looking refuse leaves, into several sorts of green tea. A series of large flat iron pans were placed over a range of furnaces heated by charcoal, in several successive degrees. The teas, which had been previously picked and sorted, were then placed successively in these pans by men, who each rolled them to a certain extent. After passing four or five pans a small quantity of turmeric was sprinkled over the leaves, in a pan highly heated, and in the next pan a blue powder, composed of Prussian blue and gypsum was added, which gave a delicate green bloom to the leaf, which formerly had been of a dingy black or brown hue. The tea was then gradually cooled in large shallow baskets, then placed in a winnowing machine and sifted into different sizes, the smaller being packed and sold as gunpowder or pearl tea. Thus the greatest refuse of tea, or the leaves which had passed through the teapots of the Chinese, were converted into "Gunpowder," "Hyson," and other teas for exportation, as the Chinese never drink green tea. The proprietor of the manufactory told me that the green tea thus prepared was sold to the Americans, who consume but little black tea. It is said to be difficult to detect this coloured tea from the pure, and as the Americans have good tea-tasters at Canton, the English probably receive their share of the adulterated manufacture.
The names of teas are a very imperfect criterion of their quality. Formerly Bohea was the principal tea in use; now the title is used to designate the lowest description of black tea. It may be useful to indicate the designation of the names in general use. Bohea is an English corruption of the words "Woo-e,” "Voo-yee," or "Ba-yee," some hills of that name, about 12 miles in circumference, in Fokien, on the borders of Canton province, yielding a common tea of that name, which is gathered three times a year. It is called by the Chinese "Tacha" (large tea).
Congo, from "congfoo," labourer, is of a better quality than Bohea, less dusty, and with a rougher and more astringent flavour.
Wo-ping teas are so called from a district of that name in Canton province, and when mixed with Bohea form "Canton Bohea."
Ankoi, a coarse tea from the district of that name.
Campoi, from Keinpoi, selected. It is a stronger tea than Congo.
Souche or Caper, from "swangche," double preparation, or "choolan," fragrant pearls. A great deal from Ankoi district.
[65]
Souchong, from "seaore-chong," scarce or small, good thing. It is carefully made from trees three years old, grown in good soil. Older trees, in a similar situation, produce Congo; older still, Bohea and other inferior teas.
There are different sorts of Souchong, and it is not easy to get this tea pure and good in England. The leaf is of agreeable fragrancy, somewhat like new-made hay; the leaf crisp, of a glossy black colour, and when subjected to boiling water, of a sick-red hue; the liquid is an amber brown.
Peko, or Peho, from "pih," have white petals or hair, so called from being made of leaves, gathered in when the blossoming is over in spring, when there is a whitish hair or down young on the leaf.
The tea flowers are fragrant mixed with the leaf, and give a fine odour and flavour to the tea.
Twankay, from Tunkay, a district where the tea is generally made. In green teas it corresponds in quality to Congo among black teas.
Singlo, from Sungle, a mountain in Ganhway. Both these teas have large flat leaves, and are not much rolled.
Hyson, from "hechuen," genial spring or first crop, when the young leaves are gathered. Hyson Skin, Puha tea skin. In Chinese "skin" signifies the refuse. It is formed of the leaves rejected in the preparation of Hyson. The dealers in London give it the name of bloom tea.
Young Hyson, from "yee-tseen," before the rains. It is a very small leaf. Gunpowder is the picked, small, well-rounded Hyson, like shot, also called Pearl or Imperial tea. Several other teas with new names are being introduced.
The different teas are prepared roughly by the tea farmers, and then taken to the manufacturers, who prepare and sort the teas according to the districts in which they are grown, the variety and age of the tree, the size and quality of the leaf, &c. The leaves are passed through sieves of different sizes before their quality is determined. The judgment of the manufacturer in selecting and sorting, and the skill of his workman in firing or "tatching" the leaf, is of the first consequence. The better quality teas are more frequently roasted, and each leaf separately rolled. The finest descriptions do not reach England; the mandarins pay very high prices for those teas, and their flavour is so delicate that they would not bear four or five months' sweating in the hold of a ship.
The production of tea for the use of the Chinese middle and lower classes must be very great, as it is used at every meal.
The tea found in Russia, conveyed by land and river carriage thither, is said to be superior to the tea generally used in England. This may be owing to the leaf being less fired; many of the finest teas drunk in China would not bear five or six months' stowage in the hot and humid atmosphere of the hold of a ship, and therefore the teas conveyed to Europe by sea require to be dried and fired to a degree which must injure their quality. Teas that I drank at Foochoo, Ningpo, and Shanghai were not highly dried, and had a very delicate flavour, when drank as the Chinese do, without milk or sugar; but these teas could not be preserved more than a few months. The Chinese say, that the high dried superior black teas improve in flavour by being closely packed in air-tight leaden cases for one or two years. Some of the finest teas in China scarcely colour the water, and the preparation consists solely in pouring boiling water on a small quantity of the leaves placed in a teacup, fitted with a close cover; among the highest classes a silver strainer is placed at the bottom of the teacup. Tea made up into balls, or compressed into the form of bricks, or of flat cakes, is exported to Tartary, Tibet, Burmah, &c., boiled with milk, and constitutes an agreeable and nutritious beverage.
The constituent properties of tea are,
Black Green Tannin 40.6 34.6 Vegetable albumen 6.4 5.7 Mucilage 6.3 5.9 Insoluble fibre 44.8 51.3 Loss 2.0 2.5The tannin blackens salts of iron. The proportions of tannin must vary with the quality of the tea. A salifiable base, named "theine," in regular colourless crystals, has been obtained from tea.
The ashes of black and green teas yield silex, carbonate of lime, magnesia, chloruret of potash. In distillation tea yields a volatile oil, and according to some, a small quantity of resin, soluble in alcohol, and possessing the odour of tea. The effects of tea on the human system are, first stimulant, and then narcotic, according to the strength of the beverage. In moderation tea is an excellent diluent; it promotes digestion, and stimulates the renal glands. The constant use of tea, however, in large quantities, especially by persons living on a poor vegetable diet, is not favourable to physical strength or nervous energy, and to persons engaged in sedentary employments and imperfectly alimented, the frequent imbibing of "tannin" has a decided and manifest pernicious effect. How far the excessive use of strong tea in China, by alternately elevating and depressing the nervous system, may have led...
Page 480
Page 481
473
Appendix
Report on the Tea
Trade.
[64]
The territory in which the large amount of tea consumed in Europe and America is grown is south of the Great Yan-tze-Keang river; the whole region lying between the 27th and 31st degrees of north latitude, and from the sea coast inland for 500 to 600 miles, may be considered capable of producing tea; but the most favoured region is the generally sterile hilly province of Fokien, and the provinces of Keangsoo and Chekeang, between the 25th and 31st degrees of north latitude. This territory, which extends over 350 to 400 square miles, is composed principally of the debris of a coarse granite, and of a ferruginous sandstone, crumbling into decay; but when well comminuted and irrigated, yielding suffi- cient nutriment for the hardy tea plant (a camellia), whose qualities, like that of the vine, are elicited by the nature of the soil, the elevation, the climate, and the solar aspect to which the shrub is subjected *.
It is generally stated that green and black teas are produced from the shrubs of the same species, with a slight variety; the leaf of the green being larger and broader than that of the black; the former leaf is rounded, the latter elliptic, flatter, and more coriaceous,
The cultivation in different soils, the picking of the leaves at different stages of expan- sion, and subjecting them to greater or less degree of heat and manipulation in dying, is the cause of considerable variety; probably the same difference exists as between the red and white grape, or the black and white currant.
The shrub is cultivated with great care, planted in quincunx rows, in beds, by seeds, chiefly along the sides of hills with a southern aspect, and on a poor gravelly soil, among the debris of decayed granite and disintegrated sandstone, and where nothing else will grow, and it is used for hedgerows or boundaries.
The height varies from three to seven feet, and it is very leafy. The flower resembles the wild rose or briar flower, common in English hedges in autumn; the seed vessel is a nut of the size of a small hazel, or rather like the castor-oil nut, but rounder; three red kernels are in each nut, divided by capsules, and from these a quantity of oil, termed "tea oil," is extracted, and used for common purposes by the Chinese. Six or seven seeds are put into each hole when planting; in 12 or 18 months transplantation takes place, and about the third year the leaves are first plucked. At seven years of age the top is cut almost down to the stem (as gardners do with old currant trees), and a more leafy set of shoots spring up the ensuing year.
The age of the tree is unknown; it has a useful duration, probably to 15 or 20 years. It is an evergreen, and blossoms from the end of autumn throughout the winter until spring. The leaves are dried by placing them first in flat baskets, and exposing them to the air and a moderate degree of sun. They are then further dried or tatched in thin pans of iron, heated by a small furnace of charcoal, the leaves being kept constantly turned round by the hand, and rolled or rubbed between the fingers, to give the leaf a rounded form. When sufficiently fired, is picked and packed for Canton in chops of 100 to 1,000 chests, each chop having marked on it the name of the maker, the district where the tea is grown, its quality, date, &c.
Copper is not used in the preparation of any description of tea; iron pans are solely employed. I visited a tea manufactory five miles above Canton, where about 500 men, women, and children were engaged in converting coarse-looking refuse leaves, into several sorts of green tea. A series of large flat iron pans were placed over a range of furnaces heated by charcoal, in several successive degrees. The teas, which had been previously picked and sorted, were then placed successively in these pans by men, who each rolled them to a certain extent. After passing four or five pans a small quantity of turmeric was sprinkled over the leaves, in a pan highly heated, and in the next pan a blue powder, composed of prussian blue and gypsum was added, which gave a delicate green bloom to the leaf, which formerly had been of a dingy black or brown hue. The tea was then gradually cooled in large shallow baskets, then placed in a winnowing machine and sifted into different sizes, the smaller being packed and sold as gunpowder or pearl tea. Thus the greatest refuse of tea, or the leaves which had passed through the teapots of the Chinese, were converted into "Gunpowder," "Hyson," and other teas for exportation, as the Chinese never drink green tea. The proprietor of the manufactory told me that the green tea thus prepared was sold to the Americans, who consume but little black tea. It is said to be difficult to detect this coloured tea from the pure, and as the Americans have good tea-tasters at Canton, the English probably receive their share of the adulterated manufacture.
tea. It
may
The names of teas are a very imperfect criterion of their quality. Formerly Bohea was the principal tea in use; now the title is used to designate the lowest description of black be useful to indicate the designation of the names in general use. Bohea is an English corruption of the words "Woo-e,” Voo-yee," or "Ba-yee," some hills of that name, about 12 miles in circumference, in Fokien, on the borders of Canton province, yielding a common tea of that name, which is gathered three times a year. It is called by the Chinese "Tacha" (large tea).
Congo, from "congfoo," labourer, is of a better quality than Bohea, less dusty, and with a rougher and more astringent flavour,
Wo-ping teas are so called from a district of that name in Canton province, and when mixed with Bohea form "Canton Bohea."
Ankoi, a coarse tea from the district of that name.
Campoi,
* I found the tea shrub in several parts of China planted as hedge-rows or fences to fields and vegetable gardens.-R. Montg, Martin.
[ 65 ]
Campoi, from Keinpoi, selected. It is a stronger tea than Congo.
Souche or Caper, from swangche, double preparation, or choolan, fragrant pearls. A great deal from Ankoi district.
Appendix.
Report on the Tea
Souchong, from seaore-chong, scarce or small, good thing. It is carefully made from Trade. trees three years old, grown in good soil. Older trees, in a similar situation, produce Congo; older still, Bohea and other inferior teas.
There are different sorts of Souchong, and it is not easy to get this tea pure and good in England. The leaf is of agreeable fragrancy, somewhat like new-made hay; the leaf crisp, of a glossy black colour, and when subjected to boiling water, of a sick-red hue; the liquid is an amber brown.
Peko, or Peho, from pih, have white petals or hair, so called from being made of leaves, gathered in when the blossoming is over in spring, when there is a whitish hair or down young on the leaf.
tea.
The tea flowers are fragrant mixed with the leaf, and give a fine odour and flavour to the
Twankay, from Tunkay, a district where the tea is generally made. In green teas it cor- responds in quality to Congo among black teas.
Singlo, from Sungle, a mountain in Ganhway. Both these teas have large flat leaves, and are not much rolled.
Hyson, from hechuen, genial spring or first crop, when the young leaves are gathered. Hyson Skin, Puha tea skin. In Chinese "skin" signifies the refuse. It is formed of the leaves rejected in the preparation of Hyson. The dealers in London give it the name of bloom tea.
Young Hyson, from yee-tseen, before the rains. It is a very small leaf. Gunpowder is the picked, small, well-rounded Hyson, like shot, also called Pearl or Imperial tea. Several other teas with new names are being introduced.
The different teas are prepared roughly by the tea farmers, and then taken to the manu- facturers, who prepare and sort the teas according to the districts in which they are grown, the variety and age of the tree, the size and quality of the leaf, &c. The leaves are passed through sieves of different sizes before their quality is determined. The judgment of the manufacturer in selecting and sorting, and the skill of his workman in firing or tatching the leaf, is of the first consequence. The better quality teas are more frequently roasted, and each leaf separately rolled. The finest descriptions do not reach England; the mandarins pay very high prices for those teas, and their flavour is so delicate that they would not bear four or five months' sweating in the hold of a ship. The production of tea for the use of the Chinese middle and lower classes must be very great, as it is used at every meal.
The tea found in Russia, conveyed by land and river carriage thither, is said to be superior to the tea generally used in England. This may be owing to the leaf being less fired; many of the finest teas drunk in China would not bear five or six months' stowage in the hot and humid atmosphere of the hold of a ship, and therefore the teas conveyed to Europe by sea require to be dried and fired to a degree which must injure their quality. Teas that I drunk at Foochoo, Ningpo, and Shanghai were not highly dried, and had a very delicate flavour, when drank as the Chinese do, without milk or sugar; but these teas could not be preserved more than a few months. The Chinese say, that the high dried superior black teas improve in flavour by being closely packed in air-tight leaden cases for one or two years. Some of the finest teas in China scarcely colour the water, and the preparation con- sists solely in pouring boiling water on a small quantity of the leaves placed in a teacup, fitted with a close cover; among the highest classes a silver strainer is placed at the bottom of the teacup. Tea made up into balls, or compressed into the form of bricks, or of flat cakes, is exported to Tartary, Tibet, Burmah, &c., boiled with milk, and constitutes an agreeable and nutritious beverage.
The constituent properties of tea are,
Tannin
Vegetable albumen
Mucilage
Insoluble fibre
Loss
Black.
Green.
40'6
34'6
6'4
5.7
6.3
5.9
44.8
51.3
2:0
2.5
The tannin blackens salts of iron. The proportions of tannin must vary with the quality of the tea. A salifiable base, named " theine," in regular colourless crystals, has been obtained from tea.
The ashes of black and green teas yield silex, carbonate of lime, magnesia, chloruret of potash. In distillation tea yields a volatile oil, and according to some, a small quantity of resin, soluble in alcohol, and possessing the odour of tea. The effects of tea on the human system are, first stimulant, and then narcotic, according to the strength of the beverage. In moderation tea is an excellent diluent; it promotes digestion, and stimulates the renal glands. The constant use of tea, however, in large quantities, especially by persons living on a poor vegetable diet, is not favourable to physical strength or nervous energy, and to persons engaged in sedentary employments and imperfectly alimented, the frequent imbibing of " tannin has a decided and manifest pernicious effect. How far the excessive use of strong tea in China, by alternately elevating and depressing the nervous system, may have
R
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