For the best teas, as the bushed ‘flush’ to push out their new growth, the pickers remove the first two young leaves and one new leaf bud. The speed at which the new shoots appear depends on altitude, temperature, humidity, wind, sunshine and all other variables that influence the plants. Each morning, the female pickers set off at 7 o’clock to harvest the leaf and bring it into the factories. Dilmah tea is made in the traditional, artisanal manner which requires meticulous care with a personal touch each step of the way. Each leaf that goes into Dilmah tea is plucked by hand, the two leaves and bud plucked by expert pluckers trained in the craft. The pickers’ nimble fingers try to avoid taking too much stalk, coarse leaf or twigs as those add only bulk to the leaf and not flavour. If less than 65% of the plucked lead is made up of neat, high quality shoots of two leaves and a bud, the quality of the made tea will go down and prices will fall.
