The value of Tea is increased when it shows “Pekoe tips.” Only the leaves _a b_ make these. They are covered with a fine silky whitish down, and, if manufactured in a particular way, make literally white or very pale yellow Tea,[35] which, mixed with ordinary black Tea, show as “Pekoe tips.” In ordinary leaf-picking these two leaves are taken with all the others, but unfortunately, when manufactured with them, they lose this white or pale yellow colour, and come out as black as all the other Tea.
As the season goes on, this is less and less the case, till towards the end nearly all the _a b_ leaves show orange-coloured in the manufactured Tea. Still they are not _white_ (the best colour) as they can be made when treated separately. No means have yet been devised to separate them _before_ manufacture from the other leaf, and though sometimes picked separate, the plan has serious objections (see next page). In the case, however, of the first two or three flushes the welfare of the plants demands that no more should be taken, and though the quantity obtained will be small, it will, if carefully manufactured so as to make “white Pekoe tips,” add one or two annas a lb. to the value, when mixed with it, of one hundred times its own weight of black Tea!
More will be found under this head in the Tea manufacturing part. I now beg the question that the said downy leaves taken alone are very valuable.
In detailing the mode of picking I advocate, it would be tedious to go minutely into the reasons for each and everything. I have said enough to explain a good deal, but will add anything of importance. Of the latter are the following.
Tea can be made of the young succulent leaves only. The younger and more succulent the leaf the better Tea it makes. Thus _a_ will make more valuable Tea than _b_, _b_ than _c_, and so on; _e_ is the lowest leaf to make Tea from, for though a very coarse kind can be made from _f_, it does not pay to take it. The stalk also makes good Tea, as far as it is really succulent, that is, down to the black line just above 2.
The leaves are named as follows from the Teas it is supposed they would make:--
_a._--Flowery Pekoe. _b._--Orange Pekoe. _c._--Pekoe. _d._--Souchong, 1st. _e._-- „ 2nd. _f._--Congou.