Accuracy of the tea picking is just as important as the timing. The world’s finest teas are handpicked by experts who often tend to their own area of the garden, taking pride in the ongoing quality of their tea bushes as well as the quality and amount picked.

The picker’s day starts early, whilst the morning dew remains on the leaves.

The pickers move quickly across the ‘plucking table’ [the top surface of the sea of tea], and for fine plucking, pick ‘2 leaves and a bud’ - the 2 topmost leaves together with one new bud, are gathered between the thumb and middle finger and deftly plucked with a downward ‘snap’ of the hand and thrown into a basket usually carried on the back.

Find out more about the different types of tea.