Ready To Pluck
Practicing patience is a constant battle. This became more apparent soon after completing my Bachelor's degree. I had my final exam on a Friday, and was itching for work so I secured a deal the next day to bead outfits by hand for a traditional wedding and was at it from Monday. Convinced myself that it was a way to increase my manual dexterity for the future strides I would be making in science. I feared rest. I thought I was at a standstill and that the world would leave me so far behind. Where the world was going and what it was trying to achieve, I wasn't asking. I just wanted to be a part of the "wave". Whatever the hell this "wave" was.
I was thinking of this when I re-stocked on a bunch of teas and for the first time, I was drawn to the manufacture and expiry dates of the tea. I noticed that some of them did have the dates and expiry was generally in 2 to 3 years, however, some just had a code I obviously could not decipher! So I was surprised that that's alright but the truth about tea is if you store it very well, you know, air-tight, cool, dry and dark place, it can last a really long time. Expiry dates are just there because it may get stale overtime if you aren't meticulous with the storage but tea doesn't really expire (think Pu erh tea which is aged over decades before it's ready to break your wallet).
-My casual re-stock. All kenyan as well!
Processing of tea leaves should begin at least an hour after plucking. Tea leaves harvested at different times will produce a finished product with vastly different characteristics. The time a bud appears, opens and grows into a large leaf can occur over a few days so harvest time is critical. The style of tea will dictate the time of harvest, because you may require only buds or a certain number of small leaves to be plucked after the buds open. So missing a harvest would be horrid! In tea-growing regions where there's a 'winter' period, the first new shoots after this period are actually of the highest quality. This is because during the dormancy period, the plant builds nutrient reserves for the new leaves such that when they come up they're packed with all this goodness. China, Japan and Northern parts of India do have a cold season where the plant lies dormant so they really pay attention to the first harvest post-winter. Kenya, Ethiopea, Mozambique, Malawi and other African tea-producing countries; Sri Lanka and southern India don't have a cool season so tea can be picked all year round. Their peak tea seasons coincide with the rainy season and the high quality comes about due to the high altitudes at which the plant is grown. Kenya's tea plantations, you guys, exquisite,
-A plantation in Kericho, Kenya. So beautiful!
Tea plants can grow in to a 10-15m tall tree (var. assamica) or a 5-8m tall shrub (var. sinensis) if they are allowed to grow uninterrupted. However, in commercial plantations, tea is maintained as a bush of about 1m tall, having a flat-topped foliage canopy with a depth of about 0.6m. Young shoots emerge from axillary buds near the top of the canopy (which is called the plucking table). These tender shoots are periodically (4-7 day intervals) plucked as yield when they have developed two or three leaves and a bud. Upon plucking of shoots, new shoots emerge from the axillary bud immediately below the plucking point. Interestingly, despite this efficiency of the plant in sort of regenerating the leaves, when you first plant tea seeds, it can take up to 3 years before you aquire a bush with enough leaves for a sizable harvest!
The thing I'm learning about being in a constant state of haste is the loss that comes with it. You only realise it much later though, which makes it all the more worse. You forget simple lessons in gratitude. You spend a ridiculous amount of time digging for specks of dirt in your neighbors' eyes while neglecting your own. You rob yourself of reaping the benefits of your full potential because you level down to it's half just to count a "win". Take a break. Not one reminiscent of a sloth, no, a reflective kind of break. Articulate your strategy. When you're ready, you too will be plucked.
xx
The Ultimate Tea Girl