Picking the tea leaves

At harvest time in China, the leaves are plucked by hand, as there are dif­ferent quality leaves on every single plant. Other countries use machin­ery, but because machines cannot identify and separate the different leaves, machine-picked tea can only produce a product of average quality. Hand­picking is a very delicate and tedious process. It was started by traditional Chinese doctors who collected wild herbs in the mountains. Eventually, as the demand for tea grew and plantations were established, more people were needed. Because men tend to have clumsy fingers, large numbers of young girls were and still are trained to pluck the leaves.

Some teas are extremely expensive while others are relatively inexpensive, even for the same variety of tea. The quality and price of the leaves are also dependent on the time of day that the tea is picked. In general, tea leaves are plucked two or three times a day. The best quality leaves are picked at the first light of dawn until 7 A.M., before the sun fully rises between 7 and 8 or even 9 A.M., and again at sunset when the sun's heat is not very strong. However, some farmers dislike the early morning mist because the moisture makes the drying process more diffi­cult so they pluck at midday when the sun is much stronger. Consequently, these teas are cruder and of lower quality. The seasons also affect tea quality: spring produces the best leaves and as the months progress between spring and summer the quality falls. Traditionally, no one plucks tea in the autumn and winter so as to allow the plants to rejuvenate themselves.

When harvesting the leaves the picker uses the middle finger and thumb, known as the orchard hand sign, to lightly hold the leaves and pluck them from the plant in a steady movement. This keeps damage to the leaves to a minimum. The best tea leaves are the smallest, most deli­cate ones at the tip of each shoot. Shaped like the head of a very small spear, these leaves yield very expensive teas, in the past only kings could afford them. This is why they are called offering teas. All the other leaves on the plant are called flags. The quality of leaves is judged by the flags which are picked. The few leaves from the spear produce super-premium tea. The next best quality teas are those using a mix of the spear and the first flag leaves, then the spear and the first two flags. The higher flag number means a lower tea quality. Leaves used for green tea are usually from the spear and first few flags of the tea plant, whereas black teas often use the third, fourth, or higher flags.

The finest teas are said to be those picked by young girls before sunrise. Tea farmers always monitor the growth of the tea leaves. Too much growth reduces the quality and the grade. Farmers also have to be vigilant for harmful insects that could ruin the entire plantation: there are over 150 different species of insects and over 380 kinds of fungi that can attack tea plants. If farmers find an infesta­tion, they cannot use any pesticides. The most they can do is break off the infected branch or use smoke to get rid of the insects. Pesticides ruin the taste and flavor of the infected plant and those surrounding it. Generally, farmers would rather burn the tea plant and start again.

When the tea leaves are plucked, they have to be immediately processed and prepared, as any delay affects the quality and drops the price of the tea. Traditionally, tea farmers work intensely for half a year dur­ing the spring and summer and relax for the second half of the year.