High-elevation tea estate morning plucking: apical two leaves and a bud manual standards?
Why do Nuwara Eliya specialty tea gardens enforce plucking strictly between 7:00 AM and 10:30 AM, and how do pluckers maintain unbroken apical bud cells?
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3 Answers from travellers
Fine orthodox manufacturing requires harvesting strictly "two leaves and a bud" early in the morning. Harvesting begins at 7:00 AM once morning dew evaporates from the bushes and finishes before 11:00 AM when mid-day sun warms the leaf canopy. High leaf temperatures trigger uncontrolled enzymatic polyphenol oxidation in field baskets before arrival at the factory. Pluckers snap stems using thumb and forefinger pressure without fingernail pinching; crushing or bruising the petiole leaks cell sap, turning the leaf brown prematurely and creating bitter liquor astringency.
Plucked leaf is transferred loosely into aerated woven cane baskets or open-mesh bags; compressing leaf into tight plastic sacks causes internal heat damage.
Field weighing occurs at road muster stations every two hours to ensure harvested leaf reaches factory withering lofts within 90 minutes of plucking.
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