英文科学读本 第五册·Lesson 08 Tea—Its Cultivation and Preparation

Lesson 08 Tea—Its Cultivation and Preparation

The tea-plant is raised from seeds, which are sown in March, after having been stored, throughout the previous winter, in moist earth. They are planted out in their growing quarters (usually on the dry, sunny slope of a hill) when they are one year old. No leaves are plucked for the first three years, but the plants are carefully pruned back, so as to keep them down to a height of three or four feet. The first cropping takes place in the fourth year, and after this there are three crops of leaves every year, as long as the tree lives.

Two very interesting points in connection with the leaves must be noticed in passing. The first is that, when freshly picked, they have neither the odor nor the flavor with which we are familiar in the prepared article. These are developed by the after treatment. The second is that different qualities of tea are produced from precisely the same leaves, by varying the mode of preparation. The picking of the leaves requires much care. Each leaf has to be picked separately with the finger and thumb, and in such a way as neither to bruise the leaf itself, nor injure the tender young shoots of the plant.

The first picking takes place in April. This crop consists of the young, tender leaves of spring, with the first bloom on them. They produce the finest and most delicately flavored teas of the year. The second crop follows in about a month, the leaves being larger, less bright in color, and not so rich in flavor. The third crop is picked when the leaves have reached their full size. They are then more bitter and woody, and have very little of the delicate aroma and flavor of the earlier crops.

These last two crops furnish most of the tea sent out of China, for the Chinese rarely part with any of the first crop, preferring to keep it for themselves and their friends.

An acre of ground will grow on an average about 2000 plants, and the annual crop is from 250 to 300 lbs. of tea. Most of the picking of the first crop is done by women, but even children help in the later pickings.

The first step in the preparation of the leaves is to expose them to the action of the sun and air for two or three hours. For this purpose they are laid either on mats, or in wide shallow baskets, and stirred every now and then. The object of this part of the process will be clearly seen by treating any ordinary leaf in a similar way. The leaf, which when freshly picked was crisp and brittle to the touch, becomes limp and flabby after this exposure. It could be easily rolled between the thumb and fingers without crushing out any of the natural juices. This is the very thing necessary in the treatment of the tea-leaves. When sufficiently dried, they are rolled loosely by the hands on a flat table, and then thrown, a small quantity at a time, into an iron pan, over a charcoal fire, to complete the work of drying. While in the pan they are kept constantly stirred to prevent scorching, and, when quite ready, are swept quickly on to the table, where men, called twisters, complete the work of rolling, by rubbing the leaves between the hands while they are still hot. In the finest and most delicate kinds of tea, every leaf is rolled or twisted separately.

The final process is to throw the twisted or rolled leaves again into the pan over the charcoal fire, and carefully roast them, so as to drive off every particle of moisture. The utmost care is necessary, as before, to prevent scorching.

Nothing now remains but to sift and sort the tea, and pack it in chests lined with lead-foil for the market.

It is important to remember here a point which has already been noticed; that is, that different treatment produces different kinds of tea from precisely the same leaves.

In the preparation of green tea the leaves are dried and rolled immediately they are gathered. The whole process of preparation, in fact, is rapid and simple.

For black tea the leaves are first thrown into a heap, and covered with matting for some time, until the atmosphere begins to act upon them, and a sort of fermentation sets in. The fermentation causes the green leaf to change color, and become dark—almost black, after which the work of rolling is begun. Among the varieties of black tea are Pekoe, Souchong, Congou, and Bohea. The first two are prepared from the earliest crop. A very costly variety of Pekoe, known in the language of the country as the Tea of the Wells of the Dragon, is grown exclusively for the use of royalty, and is never exported. The second or main gathering gives Congou, which forms the bulk of the better supply that reaches us. Bohea is the name given to the latest gathered crop. It comprises all the coarser, commoner, cheaper teas in the market.

Hyson, Gunpowder, and Imperial are the best known of the green teas. Of late years the tea-plant has been introduced into India and Ceylon with great success, and we now receive immense shipments every season from both these countries; while, as a natural consequence, the China tea-trade is rapidly decreasing.