Tea and Tea Drinking

to India-Work in a tea-garden-Tea-gatherers in China-A Chinese

t in our minds. The tea-plant, although cultivated in various parts of the East, is probably indigenous to China; but is now grown extensively in India. In consequence of the poorness of the quality of the tea imported by the East India Company, and the necessity of avoiding an entire dependence upon China, the Bengal Government appointed in 1834 a committee for the purpose of submitting a plan for the introduction and cultivation of the tea-plant; and a visit to the frontier station of Upper Assam ended in a determination on the part of Government to cultivate tea in that region.[1] In 1840 the "Assam Company" was formed, and it is claimed for them that they possess the largest tea plantation in the world. Some idea of the progress of tea cultivation in India may be gathered from the following official figures. In 1850 there was one tea-estate, that of the

malee and other northern parts of Ceylon.... I have in my possession a letter from an officer in the 80th Regiment, in wh

onth; day by day more of the primeval forest goes down before the axe of the pioneer, and before another quarter of a

h an extent as to become valueless, and at the next "flush" the plant will be found bare of the young leaves. The delay of even a single day may be fatal. The leaf when plucked must be roasted forthwith, or it ferments and becomes valueless, as is also the case in China. There, however, the tea-harvest occurs only four or five times a year, but in India once a fortni

Assam" we take the following a

hich means that most of the work will have to be done over again. Once started, plenty of cultivation is the only thing required to keep the plant healthy, and it is left undisturbed for a couple of years to increase in size and strength. At the end of the second year, when the cold season has sent the sap down, the pruning knife dispossesses it of its long, straggling top shoots, and reduces it to a height of four feet; every plant is cut to the same level. The third year enables the planter to pluck lightly his first small crop. Year succeeds year, and the crop increases until the eighth or ninth year, when the garden arrives at maturity and yields as much as ever it will. During the rains the gong is beaten at five o'clock every morning, and again at six, thus allowing an hour for those who wish to have something to eat before commencing the labours of the day. In the cold weather the time for turning out is not so early; even the Eastern sun is lazier, and there is not so much work to get through. Few of the coolies take a

England comes from China and Japan, which produce no less tha

PLAN

he plant is grown, and its cultivation requires but little attention, compared with rice and vegetables. The most delicate kinds are looked after and cured by priests in their secluded temples among the hills; these have often many acolytes, who aid in preparing small lots to be sold at a high price. But the same authority tells us that

manner," remarks Dr. Williams, "and fill their baskets with healthy leaves, as they pick out the sticks and yellow leaves, for they are paid in this manner: fifteen pounds is a good day's work, and fourpence is a day's wages. The time for picking lasts only ten or twelve days. There are curing houses, where families who g

y loftiness of tone or purity of sentiment, but travellers in China speak highly of the songs of the tea-pickers. For instance, Dr. Williams quotes in his book on "The Middle Kingdom" a ballad of

the vale enclose, ou

sides around the te

at early dawn, a

abour done, and p

on the boughs sing s

licious now, half dr

er work each maid wi

arts are sorely hurt an

curing is th

they need another rolling on the table it is now given them. An hour or more is spent in this manipulation, when they are dried to a dull-green colour, and can be put away for sifting and sorting. This colour becomes brighter after the exposure in sifting the cured leaves through sieves of various sizes; they are also winnowed to separate the dust, and afterwards sorted into the various descriptions of green tea. Finally, the finer kinds are again fired three or four times, and the coarser kinds, as Twankay, Hyson, and Hyson-skin, once. The others furnish the young Hyson, gunpowder, imperial, &c. Tea cured in this way is called luh cha, or 'green tea,' by the Chinese, while the other, or black tea, is termed hung cha, or 'red tea,' each name being taken from the tint of the infusion. After the fresh leaves are allowed to lie exposed to the air on the bamboo trays over night or several hours, they are thrown into the air and tossed about and patted till they become soft; a heap is made of these wilted leaves, and left to lie for an hour or more, when they have become moist and dark in colour. They are then thr

the value of new tea is superior to that of old; and the longer the duration of a voyage in which a great mass of tea is packed up in a closed hold, the greater the probability that the process of fermentation will

ess of flavour, with a certain body, are the required characteristics of the market. The same authority tells us that the tea-taster prepares his samples from a uniform and very small quantity, viz. the weight of a new sixpence, and infuses it for five minutes with about four ounces o

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d in the hall of the Agricultural Society of the Caucasus at Tiflis, and appear to have excited considerable interest. The local journals, however, admit that the samples proved to be rather poor in flavour, and that their aroma resembled that of Chinese t