OCR Text |
Show TEA TREE. TEA TREE. its that accompanies the tea, so there is no doubt that some of partiand cause, same the to d ascribe be also may goodeffects is kept some time in the East India company’s warehouses: and the finer sorts of it are not so much in request as formerly. Nor 932 cularlyits being so often grateful after a full meal. oe 933 can it be an unwholesomebeveragefor sedentary persons and such After all, theinfusion of tea, as it is commonly taken in England, as live freely, provided it be not taken too hot, or in immoderate quantities, or without any solid food accompanying it. t be very narcotic or sedative, especially as after a long voyagei Forthe lower class of people, who generally live poorly, and cannot with a competent quantity of cream or milk and sugar, at Canton or Macao, knowthe confined state we are in during ourstay either to the manurelating ion informat any obtain to is and the difficulty there from the gee factures and customs of the Chinese, which wecanonlyget merchants, none of whomI believe were ever in the tea country themselves, y annually send but derive all their information from their pursers,whomthe I understand them, from collect could I what From tea. there to buy them the same species, that the tree which produces the black and greentea is of The manner of but is cultivated and manufactured in different provinces. is not fired (or former the green; the curing the black differs from that of and Tam pretty certain tateh’d; as the Chinese call it) so often as the latier, hyson, and other that the fine light green or blueish colour we observe the a given colour, fine sorts of the green tea, to possess, is not natural, but ed among the introduc article other some by or blue, either by Prussian leaves, at the time it is fired or tached,'which is always with the hyson thine times, and the common twankays and hyson skins twice, sometimes thie, both kinds, The blacks (bohea tea excepted) are also fired twice: besides before and anes sun the to exposed deal good a are greens, and blacks viz. their undergoing this process. The black teas are produced in the province Canton; the greens of Fokein, and about twenty-four days journey from from Canton; days hree thirty-t to thirty from are cultivated further off, latter near 1000 the former I should think about 700 miles distant, and the from Canton. The Chinese merchants call the former the Bohea Country, I understand the finest sorts of the and the latter the Hyson Country. are produced from blacks, viz. the Padra Scudry and Souchong and Pekoe, that those trees that are cultivated on the higher land and hills; the trees gathering of gtow on the low grounds do not produce goodtea. The first April, the leaves, which always comprises the finest tea, is in the month of g of July ; and the or early in May; the second in June, or the beginnin beginning of Septem third, whichis the last gathering, is in August or the ber. The curing of the green tea isa more expensive and lenger process we get them than the black, andit is always muchlater in the season before at one time does at Canton than we do the black teas. The quantity fired not exceed two catties, which is put ina vessel made of iron, something 1 and these ae the form of pitch kettles on board of ships, or our saucepans 5 called taches by the Chinese, and are fixed like our coppers in brick work withhis in our kitchens ; the person employedinfiring keeps turning the tea takes it out of 7 handfor a certain time, a few minutes only, and then of tach for a fresh supply ; it is done very quick; I haye seen this part process myself in the neighbourhood of Canton. The hyson and fine wee] skin and twankayleayes are twisted or rolled in the palm of the hand pre procure little animal food, tea, conveying little or no nourishment. vious to their being fired ; the blacks, I believe, do not undergo that process. In general, I think the leaves of the green teas are larger than the blacks. There ate several sorts of tea in China, which have never been seen in Europe, and of such superlative quality, as to fetch amongst themselves the high prices of from eight to sixteentales the catty. This account I had from a missionary, who was at Pekin sixteen years, and whom I sawabout twelve months before I quitted China. I haye seen one kind of this tea, the leaf of whichis nearly white, but very different from the pekoe, which you knowhas a whitish appearance.—Notwithstanding so much has been said by various people of the unwholesome and very prejudicial effects arising from the use of tea, I am of opinionit is quite erroneous. I have now been inthe habit of smelling andtasting teas for the last eighteen years, the last four of which I passed in China, and you knowhow muchmy time was employed for days, weeks, and months, examining teas in this manner every day; besides which I always breakfast on it, and drink it in the af- ternoon; andif the article possessed anypernicious qualities I should certainly have felt it long before this, It is, I think, the drinking it too hot which makes it prejudicial, if it be soat all. J always drink it warm, but not hot. The green tea is a stronger astringent than the black, but I think it quite as wholesome ; asaproof of it, the Chinese themselves in the northern provinces of China and at Pekin drink nothing else but green tea. Inthe southern they drink wholly black.—If there are anyother questions relating to the above subject you wish to know and I can answer, I shall have much Pleasure in communicating it. © E, LARKEN,” In addition to the above let me addthe testimonies of Mr, Venn and Mr. Wright, who are smellers and tasters to the East India companyof the teas which have been imported, and place marks on eachchest of tea as good, very good, superlatively good, best, very best, extraordinary, fine, Mcomparable, the bloom, and so on in degrees of comparison, which we stammarians are unacquainted with, but which direct the purchase ; and these gentlemen have been employed upwards of 40 years, sometimesin ‘morning tasting seventy cups, of all sorts, and after that smelling often fromseven to eight hundred chests of tea, and these gentlemen never found any thing in teas at all prejudicial to their healths : the former asserts, that Dr. Lettsom’s account of Mr. Nash’s losing his life by smelling of teas is founded upon mistake; and Dr. L. promised him to alter the mis-statement. |