How tea leaves are grown and picked
Only the top 1 to 2 inches of a tea bush are picked, and the plant grows a fresh flush every 7 to 15 days.
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- things downstream
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The short version
Tea comes from the evergreen bush Camellia sinensis, grown in warm, rainy places and pruned to waist height. Pickers take only the top 25 to 50 millimeters of each shoot, the buds and young leaves called a flush. A bush sends up a new flush every 7 to 15 days in the growing season.
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Prune to waist height
Left alone, a tea plant grows into a tree up to 16 m tall. Growers prune it to waist height, which makes picking easier and gives the bush more new shoots with tender leaves. It needs at least 1,200 mm of rain a year and acidic soil.
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Pluck the new flush
Only the top 25 to 50 mm of the mature plant is picked, the buds and young leaves known as a flush. A new one appears every 7 to 15 days in the growing season. Slower-growing leaves tend to give better flavor.
top 25 to 50 mm
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Cut by shears or machine
Plucking by hand was once the only method. Workers later used shears or sickles, and plantations adopted machines for low-grade tea in the twentieth century. At least 70 percent of tea bushes worldwide are now harvested by something other than hand plucking.
Worth repeating
- Tea grown at elevations up to 2,000 m grows more slowly, but the leaves develop better flavor.
- A new tea plant takes about three years before it is ready for harvesting.
- China, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka together make 81% of world tea.
Where it comes from
- China49% of world output
- India20%
- Kenyaamong the four biggest producers
- Sri Lankaamong the four biggest producers
2022, share of the 29.8 million tonnes of tea produced worldwide.
Where it goes next
Tea leaves feeds 3 lines directly and reaches 4 things in total.
Further down the line
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How tea leaves are grown and picked." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/tea-leaves