(India and Ceylon Tea Plant.)
INDIA TEAS.
Principally comprise Assams, Cachars, Darjeelings, Dooars, Deradoons, Kumaons and Chittagongs, ranking in quality in the order named, and are converted into Pekoes, Souchongs, Congous and Pekoe-Souchongs resembling most the Congou sorts of China in make, style, color and general appearance, but many of them being produced from a combination of the China and India Tea plants are hybrid in character, differing widely from their originals. In make and style they are in general longer and narrower in leaf, better curled and more shapely in form than the corresponding Chinese varieties, but contain a much greater excess of tannin which accounts for their superior strength or rather rankness in the infused state.
(India Tea Plantation.)
Assams—Are greyish-black in color, the dried leaf of the finer grades being pekoe-tipped and flavored. The liquor is unusually strong and pungent in addition to being thick and heavy in the cup, but are very useful for forming the base or foundation of all blends among Irish, English or Scotch Tea consumers.
Cachars—Are blacker in color, but not as well made or handsome in appearance. The infusion, however, is softer and mellower, being occasionally what is known as “fruity” in flavor.
Darjeeling—Is a hybrid variety, produced from a cross between the China and India Tea plants and partakes somewhat of the characteristics of both. But, while blacker in leaf, it is not on an average as finely made, and while round and full in body is not as pungent or flavory in the infusion.