Manchurian Books

Last of all the tea is once more shaken out upon the
large boards, in order that it may be carefully inspected, and the
leaves that are not entirely closed are rolled over again.
Before I left, the proprietor conducted me into his house, and
treated me to a cup of tea prepared after the fashion in which it is
usually drunk by rich and noble Chinese. A small quantity was
placed in a China cup, boiling water poured upon it, and the cup
then closed with a tightly-fitting cover. In a few seconds the tea
is then drank and the leaves left at the bottom. The Chinese take
neither sugar, rum, nor milk with their tea; they say that anything
added to it, and even the stirring of it, causes it to lose its
aroma; in my cup, however, a little sugar was put.
The tea-plant, which I saw in the plantations round about Canton,
was at most six feet high; it is not allowed to grow any higher, and
is consequently cut at intervals. Its leaves are used from the
third to the eighth year; and the plant is then cut down, in order
that it may send forth new shoots, or else it is rooted out.


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