[Illustration: PLUCKING THE TEA LEAVES. _Bourne & Shepherd_ _Photo, India_]
Some planters sift these young leaves from the coarse directly after the rolling, so as to try and get a more even colour, but it is a most difficult task, as the leaves are sticky and cling together. It is usual, as soon as the desired copper colour is obtained, to give the leaves another roll just before firing.
The object to be obtained in the next process--firing--is to remove all the moisture, without losing any of the constituents which add to the commercial value of the tea. Most factories are equipped with modern firing machines, and these are of many kinds. Heated air drawn over the leaf by revolving fans is the method of most machines. The temperature used is different on nearly every estate, according to the ideas of the planters. Some men give two firings. First the leaf is fired 70% dry at a certain temperature, and then taken to another machine, where the final firing takes place.
Then comes the sorting of the dry leaf into the various grades, the names of which are pretty well known to most people, _i.e._ Pekoe, P. Souchong, etc. This is done, as the photograph shows, by revolving flat sieves of varying sizes, after which it is refired, weighed, and packed ready for despatch to market. It will be seen that the manufacture of tea is somewhat of an art, requiring all the skill of the planter. He sometimes has to turn out two or three times a night to see that nothing is overlooked. Climatic influence plays an important part both in the quality of leaf and during manufacture. Sometimes it is impossible to get your leaf to wither and ferment, flirt with it as you will; at others the change is so rapid that it is almost impossible to cope with it. Nothing is so disappointing as the manufacture of tea, for, having done all in your power, and watched each process carefully with untiring energy, under most unfavourable circumstances, you possibly receive a broker's report on the samples, with a polite letter from your agent telling you that the tea is unsatisfactory.
[Illustration: SORTING THE LEAVES ACCORDING TO QUALITY.]
Our photographs are by Bourne and Shepherd, Calcutta.
[Illustration: A VERY CLOSE FINISH. _Photo by C. M. Ward, Edinburgh_]