[VOL I] THE CULTURE AND PREPARATION OF TEA

THE CULTURE AND PREPARATION OF TEA

Cover Image: The Culture and Preparation of Tea / China / Drawn by T.Allom Engraved by A.Willmore – ALAMY Image ID:2X2MWBT

*This passage describes the process of making tea, specifically how tea leaves are withered in a wok over low heat. In traditional Chinese tea production, this step is considered to be the process of “killing” the tea leaves. Fresh tea leaves are considered to be “alive” and would naturally undergo oxidation, fermentation, and changes over time. To preserve the unique aroma and flavor of the tea, it is necessary to “kill” the fresh leaves by subjecting them to high temperature and kneading, which helps maintain their distinctive qualities.

In far Cathay is Adam’s line,
A peaceful and a sober race;
Uncultured there the vaunted vine –
A growth more blest supplies its place.
Though scorn’d, the world’s purveyors they: and we
Dismiss our wine for Chinaware and Tea.

C. J. C.

IT is uncertain to which country, China or Japan, the tea-plant is indigenous; nor have European botanists arrived at such an exact knowledge of its habitats as enables them to assign its proper classification. But so strongly does it resemble the Camellia in its botanical characters, that it is now generally referred to that genus—its flowers and leaves, however, being much smaller. Whether this Asiatic plant has been known elsewhere, or will thrive in a different soil and climate from those in which it is now so successfully cultivated, may be doubted; but we are assured that it has formed one of the favourite productions of the Chinese central provinces from the remotest antiquity.

There are probably two varieties of the plant to which the Chinese give the name of Thea, or Thea viridis, with broad leaves, and the Thea Bohea.( (*A chemical analysis of both species gives the following contents:—Of Green Tea, 84·6 parts of tannin, 5·9 of gum, 5·7 of vegetable albumine, 51·3 of ligneous fibre, with 2·5 of loss. Of Black Tea, 40·6 of tannin, 6·3 of gum, 6·4 of vegetable albumine, 44·8 of ligneous fibre, with 2·5 of loss. The ashes contain silica, carbonate of lime, magnesia, and chloride of potassium.—Davy, Frank, &c.) It was long thought that green tea was gathered exclusively from the former, but this conclusion is not drawn from sufficient evidence, and the notion seems to have arisen from the circumstance of there being two distinct tea districts in the empire. A spacious tract in the province of Keang-nan, included between the twenty-ninth and thirty-first degrees of north latitude, and sheltered by the mountain-chain that separates this province from Che-keang, is usually denominated the Green Tea district, while the Black Tea district is situated in a lower latitude, and at the base of the mountains that form the line between the provinces of Fo-kien and Keang-si. The whole range of the tea districts is therefore comprehended between the twenty-seventh and thirty-first degrees of latitude. It should not, however, be concluded, from the cultivation of the tea-plant being apparently confined to these provinces, that it is not, or might not be, extended to others; nor, from the thea viridis being prepared in the upper province, that it could not also be matured in the lower; for it is not unfrequent, in civilized countries, to find special manufactures located in particular districts, beyond which they seldom migrate. Besides, it is more truly the case with respect to the cultivation of tea in China, the plant growing in most of its provinces, even those bordering on Chinese Tartary, being gathered in several of them for home consumption only, while the whole produce of the green and black tea districts is reserved for exportation to Europe and America.

The distinctions assigned by commerce to the different descriptions of tea are supposed to have originated with the Canton merchants; the epithets bohea, congo, campo, souchong, pounchong, flowery pekoe, and orange pekoe, for black teas; and of twankay, hyson skin, young hyson, hyson, imperial, and gunpowder, for green teas, being wholly unknown in China, with the exception of that styled imperial. This latter, called yu-tien, which is only served on occasions of ceremony, consists of the young leaves of the plants, not of any rare species, and is identical with the high-flavoured tea which Du Halde, who calls it Mao-tcha, asserts to have been appropriated to the emperor. Even the cups used with the imperial preparation are different from those generally employed, being furnished with a perforated silver plate, to keep the leaves down while the infusion passes through; and also with a stand or saucer of precious metal, shaped like a Chinese boat. As for the many varieties of tea known to European merchants, they can be but mixtures of different values and qualities, or successful imitations by ingenious Asiatics. In Shan-tung a superior description of tea is sold, obtained from a species of moss peculiar to the mountains of that province; and European travellers have frequently seen ferns, prepared for a similar purpose, exposed for sale at Nanchang-foo, on the banks of the Lake Poyang, where the infusion plant has a very favourite beverage. There is much reason to suppose also, that in the Chinese shops where they sell the camellia leaves as tea to foreign dealers, they mix them, and in no measured proportions, in their chests for exportation. The introduction of a few leaves of the olea fragrans, a system adopted by the Japanese to impart a high and aromatic flavour to the leaf, can hardly be viewed as a violation of commercial integrity, and is not exposed therefore to the censure with which other admixtures are justly chargeable. But there are numerous schemes, both for increasing the weight and adulterating the contents of each chest, which have been imputed to Chinese merchants since the first commencement of our humiliating trade with Canton.

It is somewhat singular that tea is supposed to have been first employed by the Chinese as a preventive of leprosy, the precise object for which ardent spirits were first distilled and drank in the northern countries of Europe. The same apprehensions, errors, and superstitions, therefore, appear in this instance to have influenced a large portion of the human race in different countries from the earlier ages. These qualities, however, do not now continue to be attributed to the infusion of tea-leaves; but others, perhaps more valuable in an age when leprosy is unfrequent, are allowed to attend its use. Its effects on the human system are those of a very mild narcotic and sedative; and, like those of any similar medicine taken in small quantities, exhilarating. Chemical analysis, however, has not yet discovered that principle in tea to which its exciting property is due. The green tea preparations possess this quality in a much higher degree than the black; and a strong infusion of the former will, in most constitutions, produce considerable excitement and wakefulness. Still, of all narcotics, tea is the least pernicious, if indeed it be so in any degree.

Some of its medicinal properties possess much value; taken moderately, and cautiously, it acts as an astringent and corroborative; it strengthens the stomach and bowels, assists digestion, acts as a diuretic and diaphoretic; but, excess must be avoided, and vigilance exercised in its administration. Induced by such valuable properties, other nations, distinguished for intelligence, enterprise, and perseverance, have attempted the naturalization of the tea-plant in their colonies, or parent states. In the island of Java, the Dutch have undertaken its cultivation, and, to insure success, imported cultivators from the tea-districts of China. These little plantations promised favourably at first; but, whether from faithlessness in the labourers, error in the selection of the plant originally, or a change of purpose on the part of the government, not wishing to excite Chinese jealousy, the speculation was not pursued with the enthusiasm in which it originated.

Another attempt, also attended with initial prosperity, was made near St. Sebastian in Brazil. In the botanic garden, six miles from that city, the government incurred the expense of collecting rare and valuable exotics from opposite parts of the plants of the East appeared to have suffered no diminution of vigour by transplantation. A political lethargy, however, came over all Portuguese institutions, the influence which unfortunately extended to this once celebrated botanical collection; and, were it not for the zeal, taste, and judgment of Senor Gomez, the superintendent of a powder-mill in the neighbourhood, the botanic garden of Saint Sebastian, like the flowers of its annuals, would have passed away from sight and memory. This gentleman, notwithstanding the defects of the establishment, continued, through the aid of a few Chinese gardeners, to cultivate the tea-plant with great success. “It was in seed at the time of my (Dr. Abel’s) visit, and its leaves had been repeatedly and effectually manufactured. Many other Chinese plants were growing here in full vigour; amongst those the tallow and wax trees, and camellia sasanqua, were the most conspicuous.” In later years than those in which Sir Henry Ellis and Dr. Abel visited Brazil, the tea-plant was discovered growing wild in Assam by Mr. Bruce. This gentleman traced it along the Brahmaputra from Jaipur in Lower Assam, to Joorhaut, the capital of the upper province. It is found in the natural jungle which covers a large portion of the country, and beneath the shade of which it grows luxuriantly. Under the superintendence of the discoverer himself, the culture of tea was spiritedly commenced; and, with the aid of Chinese cultivators, there is no reason to suppose that it will not be ultimately able to compete with the large black-leafed tea, called, in England, bohea, and in China ta-cha, or large tea. – (See the Culture, Manufacture, and History of the Introduction of Tea into Europe, in var. loc. seq.)

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