The leaves undergo the same process of evaporation and fermentation as with the green, but for a much longer period. They are spread out thinly on large mats and allowed to lie in this condition for at least twenty-four hours, after which they are gathered up and thrown in the air and allowed to fall back again in order to separate them. They are next turned and returned for a considerable time, being slightly beaten or patted with the hands meantime until they become soft and pliable, when they are again heaped and allowed to lay in this state for about an hour, and when examined, at the end of this time they are found to have undergone a slight change, becoming darker in color, moist and flaccid in texture and emitting a sweet, fragrant odor. At this stage they are placed in the _Kuos_ and fired for about five minutes, rolled on bamboo tables and shaken out thinly on sieves placed outside the “hong” and exposed to the oxidizing action of the atmosphere for about three hours, during which the operatives are employed in going over the sieves, turning and separating the leaves from each other. After the leaves have lost considerable sap and become correspondingly reduced in size they are next removed into the factory and placed a second time in the pans for three or four minutes, rolled as before and put into tubular bamboo baskets, narrow in the middle and wide at both ends, and suspended over charcoal fires for from five to six minutes, during which they are carefully stirred and watched until they begin to assume a dark color, the operations of heating and twisting being repeated from three to four times, the heat being gradually reduced at each operation, and during which the operators make holes with their hands through the centre of the leaves in order to equally diffuse the heat and give vent to any smoke or vapor from the charcoal. They are then covered up, placed aside until they become perfectly dry and their black color firmly established, improving in appearance as they cool. When there is no longer any danger of their becoming green, the final processes of sifting, sorting and grading is performed at the convenience of the workmen. With four _Kuos_ and six _Saihoos_ only from 400 to 500 pounds of prepared tea can be cured in a single day, it requiring 400 pounds of raw leaves to produce 100 pounds of cured tea. The leaves of the earlier pickings being smaller, more tender and juicy, the yield is correspondingly less, the leaves containing the most sap curling quickest, tightest and retaining it longer.