When you take part in a professional tasting, you assess the dry leaf, the infused leaves and the liquid in the cup, known as the liquor or “soup”. This last name seems particularly appropriate when it is tasted with a spoon similar to those used in Asia to drink the broth served at the start of a meal. You bring the spoon of tea soup to your lips and slurp. Inhaling air at the same time allows you to better appreciate the texture, flavours and aromas of the liquor.
The appearance of the man in the pink hat is deceptive. Beneath his innocent-looking pastel camouflage are fearsome fingers of steel. With razor blades clipped to each forefinger, he moves swiftly between the rows of tea plants, plucking the bud and the next two leaves at lightning speed.
In over thirty years of travelling through tea producing countries, I’ve come across some amazing gadgets, but I’ve never seen digits extended by steel blades before. Tea is still harvested by hand in many countries around the world, which is a good thing. Some pickers are finding ingenious ways to speed up the process and reap the rewards.
