Chapter TEA of T by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

first to separate the leaves, so as to make what is called Hyson. [Mr. Ball says that it is so called, “the young hyson being half-opened leaves plucked in April before the spring rains.”]

c. 1772.—

“And Venus, goddess of the eternal smile,
Knowing that stormy brows but ill become
Fair patterns of her beauty, hath ordained
Celestial Tea;—a fountain that can cure
The ills of passion, and can free from frowns.

* * * * *

To her, ye fair! in adoration bow!
Whether at blushing morn, or dewy eve,
Her smoking cordials greet your fragrant board
With Hyson, or Bohea, or Congo crown’d.

R. Fergusson, Poems.

5. OOLONG (bl. tea). Wu-lung, ‘black dragon’; respecting which there is a legend to account for the name. [“A black snake (and snakes are sometimes looked upon as dragons in China) was coiled round a plant of this tea, and hence the name” (Ball, op. cit. 586).]

6. PEKOE (do.). Pak- ho, Canton pron. of characters poh-hao, ‘white-down.’

7. POUCHONG (do.). Pao-chung, ‘fold-sort.’ So called from its being packed in small paper packets, each of which is supposed to be the produce of one choice tea-plant. Also called Padre-souchong, because the priests in the Wu-i hills and other places prepare and pack it.

8. SOUCHONG (do.). Siu-chung, Canton for Siao-chung, ‘little-sort.’

1781.—“Les Nations Européennes retirent de la Chine des thés connus sous les noms de thé bouy, thé vert, et thé saothon.”—Sonnerat, ii. 249.


9. TWANKAY (green tea). From T’un-k’i, the name of a mart about 15 m. S.W. of Hwei-chau-fu in Nganhwei. Bp. Moule says (perhaps after W. Williams?) from T’un-k’i, name of a stream near Yen-shau-fu in Chi-kiang. [Mr. Pratt (loc. cit.) writes; “The Amoy Tun- ke is nearer, and the Cantonese Tun-kei nearer still, its second syllable being absolutely the same in sound as the English. The Twankay is a stream in the E. of the province of Nganhwui, where Twankay tea grows.”] Twankay is used by Theodore Hook as a sort of slang for ‘tea.’

10. YOUNG HYSON. This is called by the Chinese Yü-t’sien, ‘rain-before,’ or ‘Yu-before,’ because picked before Kuh-yu, a term falling about 20th April (see HYSON above). According to Giles it was formerly called, in trade, Uchain, which seems to represent the Chinese name. In an “Account of the Prices at which Teas have been put up to Sale, that arrived in England in 1784, 1785” (MS. India Office Records) the Teas are (from cheaper to dearer):—

“Bohea Tea. Congou, Souchong,

Singlo (?), Hyson.”

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