Also twanky. [ad. Chinese Tong (or Taung) -ké (or -kei), dialect form of Tun-ki or Tun-chi, the name of two streams (and a town) in An-hui and Chi-kiang, China. Authorities differ as to which of these is the real source of the tea; S. Ball refers it generally to the ‘district’ of Tuon Ky (Twan-kay) in the province of Kiang Nan.] A variety of green tea (in full Twankay tea), properly that from the place so called (see above), but also applied to blends of this with other growths.
A full account is given by S. Ball (1848), in the work cited below, pp. 235–40.
1840. J. T. Hewlett, P. Priggins, xiv. Our conversation over the twanky and brown Georges … chiefly related to college and university matters.
1843. Thackeray, Wks. (1886), XXIII. 60. We’ll have a roaring pot of twankay.
1857. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, III. xviii. He didn’t want to sit drinking hot grog with the old boy. He infinitely preferred cold Twankay, with the young damsel.
1864. W. Wood, Few Words about Tea, 7. The Green Tea-leaf is made up into six different shapes, called by us … Twankay, Hyson-Skin, Hyson, Young Hyson, Imperial and Gunpowder.
attrib. 1848. S. Ball, Cultiv. & Manuf. Tea in China, 235. A tendency to Twankay flavour. Ibid., 240. The first gathering of common Twankay shrubs.
b. slang. (See quot.)
1900. F. Adams, in N. & Q., 9th Ser. VI. 163/1. A friend mentions ‘twankay,’ properly denoting a kind of green tea, as a name by which gin is frequently called.
