Plucking the very best teas and distributing them around the world is quite an involved task. But who does what, and why? Today, we look at the tasks that make up the working day in a typical Indian tea garden, and the people you will find there. 

Starting Early

At 6.00 am, the sun is out and so is the ‘Burra Sahib’ - the manager of the tea estate waiting for his assistants to join him in planning the logistics for the day’s leaf plucking activity. The hooter goes at 7.00 am and in the distance you can see the female pluckers carrying baskets, or ‘dokos’, on their backs, walking hurriedly towards the tea field. Tea leaves are delicate and have to be handled very gently, and for decades only women have been considered able to pluck the leaves with such care.Standing at the entry point are the ‘Sirdars’ – the supervisors who direct each plucker to a particular section each morning. For the best quality pickings, the leaves of each of these numbered sections should be plucked at an interval of 6 days or more, the intervening period being known as ‘round days’. It’s easier said than done to maintain a 6-day round, and requires a combination of management planning, and the skill and hard work of the plucker.

Weighing Things Up

By 9.00 am, the ‘Field Mohurer Babus’ (record keeping clerks) have arrived at the various plucking sections with their weighing scales. Each plucker will bring her collection of leaves and hand it over to the Mohurer Babu, who will weigh the leaves and record the weight against the plucker’s name. This process takes place up to 3 times a day. The collected leaves are then loaded onto a vehicle bound for the tea garden’s factory for further processing. 

Keeping Their Cool

Once the leaves have been plucked, the breaking of enzymes starts within the leaves and they tend to heat up. It’s imperative that the leaves are kept cool by loosely putting them inside the plucking bags, which are used to transport the collected leaves from the field to the factory. The team has to ensure that the leaves reach the factory as quickly as possible, as the longer it takes, the higher the chances are of the leaf becoming spoilt. Once the leaves have arrived at the estate, the next processes will be planned by the ‘Head Tea Babu’, an artisan experienced in tea production.