This is the work of harvesting the buds of tea plants. Tea goes into a dormant state and does not grow when the average temperature is below 15 degrees. With the arrival of spring and rising temperatures, growth resumes, and new buds appear between the leaves and branches that have hardened over the winter and from the tops of the plants. Picking these new buds is the work of picking new tea*. The most common methods of picking tea are "hand picking" which is done by hand, and "scissor picking" which uses power.
Thirty to 40 days after the new tea (Ichibancha) is picked, new buds will appear and grow to the same size, but these buds are not called new tea but second tea.
Picking
This is a method of picking by pinching the stem with your index finger and thumb near the bracts (very small leaves) at the base of the shoots, without using your fingernails, and snapping them off.
Squeezing
This method involves picking only the new leaves and leaving the stem intact by pinching the plant between your thumb and index finger and squeezing (sliding your fingers) to remove the leaves from the stem.
Portable Picker
This machine goes into both sides of the ridges of the tea fields and picks the tea by walking, with two people adjusting the position of the scissors that cut the tops of the buds to be picked.
Riding type picker
A machine operated by a single operator that moves across the ridges of the tea fields and picks the tea.
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