Ningyongs—Are light in weight, greenish-yellow in color and stylish-looking in the hand, though not well made or twisted. They are also very pleasing in the cup, possessing a sort of “hickory-nut” flavor for which they are much admired, but are thin in body and lacking in “snap.” It is contended by some experts that if this variety were converted into a green tea it would rank with a light drawing Moyune in drinking qualities.
Amoy at one time was the greatest Tea mart in the world, exporting as much as 500,000 half-chests per annum, but which has now fallen to less than 50,000, due in part to careless cultivation and indifferent curing. The lower grades are stemmy, dusty and frequently adulterated with spurious or exhausted leaves. Many of the finer grades, however, still turn out splendidly in the cup, rivalling the lower grades of Foochow and Formosa, being frequently faced and sold for the latter when these grades are scarce or high. It does not require an expert, however, to detect the substitution, as they are totally devoid of the fragrant and “nosey” flavor that so distinguish the latter.
Foochow Oolongs—Are produced in the province of Fo-kien, and are, without exception, the truest and finest variety of the genus tea grown in any country, China not excepted. They are usually put up in “chops,” quantities bearing the brand or chop-mark of the grower or packer, which are again divided. “Lines,” termed in trade, “Firsts,” “Seconds,” “Thirds,” “Fourths,” and sometimes “Fifths,” denoting the various pickings and grading in the order named.
The dried leaf of the “Firsts” or finer grades is black and almost “silky” in texture, exceedingly well twisted and crispy, but not brittle, yielding rather than breaking when pressed in the hand. While the infusion is dark-golden in color, rich, round and full bodied, very mellow and fragrant in flavor, the infused leaf medium in size, very regular in form and of a rich brown color.
The “Seconds” are somewhat larger in leaf, looser in make, not being quite as finely or evenly twisted but possessing excellent “cup qualities,” being the favorite with consumers who prefer full body, to delicate flavor. The “Thirds” are still looser in make, bolder in style and darker in liquor, heavier in body, and though not near as high or fragrant in flavor are, nevertheless useful and serviceable, particularly when they are composed of what is known as “high district teas.”
The “Fourths and Fifths,” when there are any, are correspondingly inferior in quality, the dried leaf of the latter being especially large, coarse and rough in appearance, brittle and chaffy in the hand, and frequently dusty or stemmy, dark in draw but thin in body, lacking in flavor, deteriorating rapidly after infusion, and devoid of the high character that so distinguishes the former grades of this variety. The principal “chops” now known to trade comprise the “Tong-mow,” “Tong-lee,” “Tong-shing,” “Chun-fah,” “Chun-fat,” “Sun-kee,” “Cheong-kee,” “Com-we” and “Com-wo-kut chops.”
Formosa Oolongs—Also known to trade as “Tam-suis,” from being shipped from that port, are unique in leaf, and flavor differing widely in character, possessing a rich, natural bouquet entirely unknown to any other variety. The dried leaf is dark greenish-yellow in color, evenly and artistically curled, crisp and “crapy” in texture, small, shapely, uniform, and green when infused, generally “tipped” with a brownish edge, the result of fermentation. The liquor is bright, clear, and golden in the cup, body round and mellow, ripe and rich and aromatic in flavor. A really choice Formosa tea when drawn will fill a room with a delightful aroma peculiar to itself, difficult to describe, but variously pronounced as “jessamine,” “cowslip” or “primrose” odor, but still totally unlike that of any other plant or flower in the vegetable kingdom, having a “Formosa flavor” pure and simple, attributed to the soil, and absorbed by the plants during growth, and to preserve which it has to be continually cultivated in new places. Unlike other varieties the later pickings of Formosa teas are heavier and stronger than the earlier gatherings; though sweet and fragrant, are light-bodied and evanescent. The medium and lower grades are dark-brown in color, somewhat rough in style, not being as well cured or curled as the finer sorts. The infusion is also darker in draw, fuller in body, but not near as fragrant or aromatic in flavor, the finer grades improving as it cools, the former deteriorating under the same circumstances and revealing a slightly “herby” taste.
Formosa Oolongs are cultivated by native farmers who have small gardens, some of whom do not raise over one hundred pounds at a picking, but have from three to five pickings in a season. Unlike other varieties, the first picking of Formosa is the poorest, the second crop being better and the last or autumn crop is best of all. This inversion is due to climatic causes, the island being visited with heavy rains during August, after which the warm weather of September causes the plant to grow luxuriantly, filling the leaf with sap, added to which the moisture of the atmosphere causes the leaves to ferment quickly during the process of curing, allowing the manufacturers to cure the leaf without exposing it to the sun. The great strength of the leaf enables the manufacturer to fire the leaves longer; the longer they are fired the longer they will keep, the third crop, or “Autumn teas,” that have been well-fired improving with time after exposure to the air, the action of the atmosphere bringing out the fragrance of the tea, the toasty flavor at the same time disappearing.
Ankoi-Oolongs—Are a doubtful species of the genus tea, said to be prepared from the leaves of a shrub closely resembling yet widely distinct in structure and character from those of the true plant, found growing in a wild state on the range of mountains known as the Anke hills, separating the district of Amoy from Foochow. The leaf, in a dried state, is rough, coarse and reddish-brown in color, poorly curled and ragged in general appearance. In the infusion it is dark-brown, large and irregular in form, notably dissimilar from that of a genuine tea-leaf in all respects, while the liquor is dark-red, oily or “earthy,” and bitterly astringent to the taste, qualities contracted from the presence of oxides in the soil in which they grow. Intrinsically, this variety possesses no value really as tea, bearing the same relation to Oolongs that Pingsueys do to Green teas, and although known to the Chinese as “Bastard tea,” it is extensively used by them in the reduction of Amoys, to which it imparts a wild, rank or weedy flavor readily detected in the cup.
Padrae-Oolong—Is a scarce sort prepared in the Bohea district from a species that is unsuited for conversion into plain Oolong. The leaf is long, black, flattish, but finely made, after the manner of a Souchong, and closely approximating to the latter in color, liquor and flavor. They are chiefly exported to the Russian market, where they are much esteemed for their unique but superb drinking qualities.