Plucking

Plucking rounds depend on the specific climate and growing conditions of the area. New shoots can be plucked at 7 - 12 day intervals during the growing season.

Tea harvesting is both exhaustive and labour intensive, between two and three thousand tea leaves are needed to produce just a kilo of unprocessed tea.

Plucking is also a procedure of considerable skill. Tea pluckers learn to recognise the exact moment at which the flush should be removed, thus ensuring that the most tender leaves are plucked to produce the finest teas.

After plucking, leaves are transported to factories for processing. In the interest of freshness, these factories are normally located very close to the tea fields. The whole process of plucking to packing takes only 24 hours, so the teas really are as fresh as possible.