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قراءة كتاب Tea and Tea Drinking
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
in the first instance, is such a delicate operation that it cannot be intrusted to women. Female labour is paid so badly that they cannot afford to exercise the gentleness which characterizes their general movements; and when they come upon the scene of operations they make the best of their short harvest.
The second gathering takes place when the foliage is fullest. This season is looked forward to by women and children in the tea-districts as their working time. They run in crowds to the middle-men, who have bargained for the leaves on the plants, or apply to farmers who need help. "They strip the twigs in the most summary 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 grow and pick their own leaves bring them for sale at the market rate. The sorting employs many hands, for it is an important point in connection with the purity of the various descriptions, and much care is taken by dealers, in maintaining the quality of their lots, to have them cured carefully as well as sorted properly."
Like hop-picking in this country, tea-picking is very tedious work, but its monotony is relieved by singing during the live-long day. The songs of the hop-pickers are not generally characterized by 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 tea-picker, which he considers one of the best of Chinese ballads, if regard be had to the character of the sentiment and metaphors. One or two verses will give an idea of this charming ballad,—
The method of curing is thus described:—
"When the leaves are brought in to the curers they are thinly spread on shallow trays to dry off all moisture by two or three hours' exposure. Meanwhile the roasting-pans are heating, and when properly warmed some handfuls of leaves are thrown on them, and rapidly moved and shaken up for four or five minutes. The leaves make a slight crackling noise, become moist and flaccid as the juice is expelled, and give off even a sensible vapour. The whole is then poured out upon the rolling-table, when each workman takes up a handful and makes it into a manageable ball, which he rolls back and forth on the rattan table to get rid of the sap and moisture as the leaves are twisted. This operation chafes the hands even with great precaution. The balls are opened and shaken out, and then passed on to other workmen, who go through the same operation till they reach the head-man, who examines the leaves, to see if they have become curled. When properly done, and cooled, they are returned to the iron pans, under which a low charcoal fire is burning in the brickwork which supports them, and there kept in motion by the hand. If 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 thrown on the hot pans for five minutes and rolled on the rattan table, previous to exposure out of doors for three or four hours on sieves, during which time they are turned over and opened out. After this they get a second roasting and rolling, to give them their final curl. When the charcoal fire is ready, a basket, shaped something like an hour-glass, is placed end-wise over it, having a sieve in the middle, on which the leaves are thinly spread. When dried five minutes in this way they undergo another rolling, and are then thrown into a heap, until all the lot has passed over the fire. When this firing is finished, the leaves are opened out and are again thinly spread on the sieve in the basket for a few minutes, which finishes the drying and rolling for most of the heap, and makes the leaves a uniform black. They are now replaced in the basket in greater mass, and pushed against its sides by the hands, in order to allow the heat to come up through the sieve and the vapour to escape; a basket over all retains the heat, but the contents are turned over until perfectly dry and the leaves become uniformly dark."
When this process is completed, every nerve is strained to put the tea into the market quickly, "and in the best possible condition; for, although it is said that the Chinese do not drink it until it is a year old, 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 be set up. Hence has arisen the great strife to bring the first cargo of the season to England, and the fastest and most skilfully commanded ships are engaged in the trade, both for the profit and honour of success."
Dr. E. Smith, an authority upon the subject, showed that the value of tea is determined in the market by its flavour and body; by the aromatic qualities of its essential oil and the chemical elements of the leaf, rather than by the chemical composition of its juices. Delicacy and fulness 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 of water in a covered pottery vessel; and in order to prevent injury to his health by repeated tasting, does not swallow the fluid. He must have naturally a sensitive and refined taste, should be always in good health, and able to estimate flavour with the same minuteness at all times.