The Cultivation and Manufacture of TeaMoney, Edward
Science
The Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea
Money, Edward
Tea
But what did panning do? I heard pans had been discontinued in some
gardens. In what way was panning an advantage? I made Tea, fermenting
it between the two rollings, but _not_ panning it, and it was
equally good. I tried again and again, but never could detect that
panning caused any difference to either the Tea, the liquor, or the
out-turn.[38] In short, though I never found panning did any harm, I
equally found it never did any good. Its use is, in fact, simply barren
of _all_ results.
I therefore dispensed with it. Having done so, why roll the second
time at all? I experimented, and found the second rolling as barren of
results as the panning.
I had now got rid of operations 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the old plan. The
next was No. 9--“sunning.” I made Tea with and without it, and found as
follows:--
Sunning between the fermenting and firing processes has no effect
whatever on the liquor or the out-turn, but it makes the Tea rather
blacker, and as it drives off much of the moisture in the roll, the
firing process after it is shorter and does not consume so much
charcoal. What little effect therefore it has is good (for if not
continued too long, it does not make the Tea too black) and it is
economical. I therefore decided on retaining it.[39]
Next came the operations 10, 11, and 12, viz., “first firing, cooling
and crisping, and second firing.” Where these are done (and they are
done in some gardens now) the usual thing is to _half-fire_ the roll
the same afternoon and evening it is made, then allow it to “cool and
crisp” all night, and finish the firing next day. I tried this plan,
and also the plan I have now adopted, of doing the whole firing at one
time the same evening. I tried the experiment again and again, and
always found the Tea, the liquor, and the out-turn were the same in
both cases. In short, that the three operations did no more and no less
than the one. As the three entail extra labour and extra expense in
charcoal I abandoned them.
I thus reduced the twelve operations detailed to five, and naturally by
so doing much decreased the cost of manufacturing Tea. I in no way lay
claim to having devised this simplicity myself. Part had been done by
others before I even turned my attention to it, and I have done no more
than help with many to make the manufacture of Tea a simple process.
I was now convinced that (though I had still much to learn regarding
the said five processes) success was comprised therein, and that to
multiply them could not avail.
The next consideration is--What are the qualities desired in Tea to
enable it to command a good price at the public auctions either in
Calcutta or London? The brokers in these cases judge of the Tea first,
value it, and give their report and valuation to intending purchasers
and sellers. From what appearances and qualities do they judge?
They judge from three things, _first_, the Tea; _secondly_, the liquor;
_thirdly_, the out-turn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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