Plucking Tea

CIMG0193CIMG0130Yesterday, I was once again asked about the tea leaf - my customer called it "raw tea".  Was it green and was it fresh and how does it get manufactured?  I explained about plucking tea (yes, plucking, not picking) - that each day, teams of workers, usually women, pluck a specified area of bushes.  The top two leaves and the opening bud are plucked and tossed into a basket, in this case bamboo.  The basket is weighed at strategically placed weighing stations and those plucking more than the minimum standard for the day, receive bonus wages.  The leaf then enters the factory for manufacture - withering, rolling, fermenting, drying, sorting, packing...it varies with the type of tea.
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