Tea, its history and mystery

by Joseph M. Walsh

As a general rule in China the small growers do not prepare the tea for market, simply curing them up to a certain point in which condition they dispose of it to the merchant or commission man, locally known as “tea-men,” who send agents into the country and who buy it in small quantities from the growers and carry it to hongs or warehouses established at different points in the tea districts. In this preliminary preparation the leaves when first collected by the grower are spread out in light layers on straw mats and exposed to the sun until they are thoroughly withered, when they are gathered up and placed on bamboo trays and triturated until a large portion of the sap or juice is pressed out. After this operation they are again exposed to the sun and then dried in rattan cylinders, separated in the middle by a partition, covered on top, and underneath of which is a chafing vessel of ignited charcoal. The leaves when thrown into this concavity are constantly agitated until the process is completed, finishing the cultivator’s work, the leaves being delivered to the merchant or factor in this state. The quantity for a “chop” or shipment being selected according to the quality of the leaf and the district producing it. The merchant or factor has them picked over by women and children to remove the stems and fibre which still remain attached to the young sprouts before completing its final preparation for the foreign market. The drying, buying and transporting of the leaves from the gardens to the hongs occupies considerable time, during most of which the but partially prepared tea is very much at the mercy of the elements.

Tea leaves, when first picked, possess none of the color, odor or flavor of the tea of commerce, these properties being developed by the numerous processes to which they are subjected in the operation of curing and firing, and for which the Chinese have a long vocabulary of technical terms. The definition of which, as vouchsafed to the “outside barbarians,” are intended more to mystify rather than elucidate the art. The operations of Tea manufacture may, however, be classified in the following sequence: Evaporating—Fermenting—Sunning—Firing—Rolling; each process having to be carried to a certain specific point, or if under or overdone, the leaf is spoiled and the tea correspondingly injured.

The partially withered leaves are packed in small cotton bags, loosely tied at mouth, and placed in open wooden troughs or boxes perforated at the sides with numerous holes, in which they are pressed and kneaded by the feet, to expel all superfluous moisture, the object being to extract all excess of tannin the principle to which tea owes its bitterness and astringency. If the leaves be fermented without previously going through this process, the tea will be too pungent and bitter. The fluid driven out through the holes is of a greenish, semi-viscid nature, the quantity expelled from the leaves being considerable. Properly evaporated, the leaves when pressed in the hand return to their regular shape, the stem bending double without breaking.

The process of fermentation is accomplished by next emptying the leaves into bamboo baskets and covering them with cotton or felt mats, to cause a retention of heat and hasten the fermentive changes. Having been allowed to stand in this condition, the time requisite for this process, being learned only by experience, being more rapid in dry, warm weather than in cool and damp. If the leaves be allowed to remain in a heap after evaporating, so that heating by natural fermentation should occur, the tea will be greatly injured. The process is stopped by emptying the leaves and spreading them out on large mats, exposed to the sun’s rays. The effect of proper fermentation is to make the tea richer, smoother and more pleasing in flavor. Tea in this respect being like tobacco, which if dried over a fire when first cut, becomes so sharp and bitter as to sting the tongue.

During the process of “sunning” the leaves are tossed up and turned over repeatedly, so that the whole may be diffused and thoroughly permeated by the sun. With bright sunshine one hour’s exposure is sufficient, after which they are ready for the final processes of firing and curling. One of the results of the sunning process is to evaporate in a greater degree the properties that produce nervousness or wakefulness in the tea.

As in the case of its botanical classification, much error and confusion for a long time existed with regard to the production of the varieties known to commerce as Green and Black teas. It was claimed at one time that the former were prepared exclusively from the species botanically termed Thea Viridis, and the latter came from Thea Bohea. It was also stated that the difference in color was due to a variation in the soil, climate and methods of cultivation, and again that Black teas were prepared only from plants grown on hilly sites, and Green teas solely from those cultivated on the plains in a soil enriched by manure. These botanical names and groundless conjectures have for a long time misled the public, later and more careful investigation fully disproving such erroneous impressions. But while it is now admitted that the greater portion of the respective commercial varieties known as Green and Black teas are prepared from the corresponding botanical species in their respective districts, it is more from custom, convenience or demand than from any other cause. The manufacturers cater to the latter, the workmen also preferring to make that kind best with which they have the most experience. Chinese tea men now admitting that both kinds are prepared at the will or pleasure of the manufacturers in the Black and Green tea districts. At Canton and other treaty ports in China it is an open secret that both varieties are prepared from either species according to the demand, the difference in color being entirely due to the different methods of preparation from the first stage. In the

PREPARATION OF GREEN TEAS.

When the leaves are brought in from the gardens, they are spread out thinly on flat bamboo trays, where they are allowed to remain exposed from one to two hours, in order to evaporate any superfluous moistures, the time depending much on the state of the weather, after which they are removed to terraces or verandahs built expressly for the purpose of firing and curling, and containing from ten to twenty small furnaces about three feet high, each having at the top a series of shallow pans, termed Kuo, built into brick-work, low in front, but rising gradually at the sides and back, having a flue beneath and a fireplace at one end. The pans are heated to a certain degree by a charcoal fire made in the furnaces underneath. Charcoal being used exclusively for the purpose, as smoke of any kind would injure the flavor of the tea. A limited quantity of raw leaves are thrown into the Kuo at a time, rapidly moved about and shaken up with both hands until they become affected by the heat, making a cracking noise and give out considerable vapor, the freshest and juiciest cracking first.

The operators meantime continue to stir them rapidly as possible with their bare hands until they become too hot to be endured, the object being to expose them equally to the action of the heat, and at the same time prevent them from burning or scorching. When the heat becomes too intense they are lifted rapidly above the Kuo and allowed to fall gradually to cool them, any burned leaves being instantly removed. After being allowed to remain in this state from four to five minutes, during which they become moist and flaccid, they are quickly removed with a shovel resembling a fan and transferred to a long, low table made of split bamboo and covered with matting and surrounded by several Saihoos, who divide the leaves among them, each taking as many as he can hold in his hands, rolling them from left to right with a circular motion into the form of a ball, which is compressed and rolled upon the table, to rid them of any excess of sap or moisture, and at the same time curl or twist the leaves. During this process they are frequently shaken out and passed from hand to hand with a rapid motion, until they reach the head workman, who examines them carefully to see if they have attained the requisite twist, after which they are separated and spread out in bamboo trays until the remainder have undergone the same process. A second set of operatives now collect them and turn them over and over, toss and retoss them in the air to a considerable height, while a third keeps fanning them in order that they may cool more speedily and retain their curl longer, those containing the most sap curling quickest, tightest and retaining it the longer. When the firing and curling operations are completed, the leaves are again exposed to the action of the air, so as to admit the passing away of the expressed moisture and at the same time impart a crisp appearance.

When a sufficient quantity of leaves has been rolled they are again placed in the Kuos, under which a slow but steady charcoal fire has been kept burning and stirred with a rapid motion by the hands of the Saihoo until they become thoroughly dried and the green color permanently fixed, that is, until there is no longer any danger of them turning black. At this stage the leaves are of a dull-green color, becoming brighter as they cool, in which state they are termed by the Chinese Mao-cha or “Cat tea.” The next and last process consists of winnowing or passing the leaves through sieves of varying sizes to free them from stems, dust and other extraneous matter, and separate them into the different kinds of Green Tea known to commerce. After which they are again refired, the coarser leaves once and the finer grades three to four times in order to bring out the color more fully and make them retain their curl longer. In the