In all, therefore, but the point of Pekoe tips hard rolling is better.
The next question was, what is the advantage of repeated rolling? I rolled twice, panning once between, vide old plan, and found the Tea as well made and as strong as that rolled three or four times. I then decided to roll no more than twice. The second time was, I then thought, necessary, as I found the leaf of the roll opened in the pan, and a second rolling was requisite to twist it again.
But what did panning do? I heard pans had been discontinued in some gardens. In what way was panning an advantage? I made Tea, fermenting it between the two rollings, but not panning it, and it was equally good. I tried again and again, but never could detect that panning caused any difference to either the Tea, the liquor, or the out-turn.[38] In short, though I never found panning did any harm, I equally found it never did any good. Its use is, in fact, simply barren of all results.
I therefore dispensed with it. Having done so, why roll the second time at all? I experimented, and found the second rolling as barren of results as the panning.
I had now got rid of operations 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the old plan. The next was No. 9—“sunning.” I made Tea with and without it, and found as follows:—
Sunning between the fermenting and firing processes has no effect whatever on the liquor or the out-turn, but it makes the Tea rather blacker, and as it drives off much of the moisture in the roll, the firing process after it is shorter and does not consume so much charcoal. What little effect therefore it has is good (for if not continued too long, it does not make the Tea too black) and it is economical. I therefore decided on retaining it.[39]
Next came the operations 10, 11, and 12, viz., “first firing, cooling and crisping, and second firing.” Where these are done (and they are done in some gardens now) the usual thing is to half-fire the roll the same afternoon and evening it is made, then allow it to “cool and crisp” all night, and finish the firing next day. I tried this plan, and also the plan I have now adopted, of doing the whole firing at one time the same evening. I tried the experiment again and again, and always found the Tea, the liquor, and the out-turn were the same in both cases. In short, that the three operations did no more and no less than the one. As the three entail extra labour and extra expense in charcoal I abandoned them.
I thus reduced the twelve operations detailed to five, and naturally by so doing much decreased the cost of manufacturing Tea. I in no way lay claim to having devised this simplicity myself. Part had been done by others before I even turned my attention to it, and I have done no more than help with many to make the manufacture of Tea a simple process.
I was now convinced that (though I had still much to learn regarding the said five processes) success was comprised therein, and that to multiply them could not avail.
The next consideration is—What are the qualities desired in Tea to enable it to command a good price at the public auctions either in Calcutta or London? The brokers in these cases judge of the Tea first, value it, and give their report and valuation to intending purchasers and sellers. From what appearances and qualities do they judge?