Machine Picked vs Hand Picked Tea In taiwan

There is an easily made misconception about machine harvested tea that should be clarified. When we hear "machine harvested" we are prone to think large-scale, standardized production, and low quality. Twenty to thirty years ago in Taiwan, this was mostly true. Low elevation tea growing regions were taken over by large companies in order to produce low-grade tea in large quantities. This is no longer the case. That industry has moved abroad to China and to southeast Asia for the most part. Now, the low elevation tea growing regions in Taiwan are reclaiming the tradition that existed several decades ago, and further innovating upon it. Three out of the five certified organic sources that we currently work with are low elevation farms that machine harvest their leaves. They are processing their leaves with knowledge and skill that surpasses most of the industry at large. They are using their top-notch skills and resources to produce various tea types of a quality that can easily be differentiated from other tea types while being very competitive in price. This is both exciting and inspiring.
The machine that is used for harvesting is a hand-held type of hedge clipper designed to be wielded by two people, one on each side of the row of tea bushes. A vacuum attachment collects the harvested leaves in a cloth bag. So in Taiwan this is not a huge machine that’s driven across the tea fields, it is a hand-held machine that looks more like a vacuum cleaner or a hedge clipper. 
Basically, the strongest argument for machine harvested tea is that it gives more power to the private family run farm sector in that they do not need to compete with larger farms to organize teams of pickers at harvest time, and the labor force for tea picking is a real issue in recent years. What used to be a community-based, mutually supportive arrangement where tea farming families would help each other harvest their leaves has turned into hired laborers (increasingly migrant workers) who are looking for the most consistent and lucrative form of employment. This typically is in areas with larger farms that need pickers for several days of harvesting rather than smaller farms that harvest for only one or two days. 
Not hiring a labor force cuts down on production cost a great deal. So farmers are able to produce their tea for less cost and sell it for a more reasonable price. Machine harvested tea sells for 1/3 to 1/10 the price of hand picked leaves, depending on elevation mostly. This is the most obvious point that indicates that cost and market standards set by high elevation tea producers are far more a factor than quality in determining the selling price.
Furthermore, machine harvesting is much faster and allows the farmer to harvest in ideal weather conditions at prime hours of the day, namely mid-morning to early afternoon. This allows for the solar withering phase to be done under the late morning to early afternoon sun, which is ideal. Hand-picking leaves is a time-consuming process that starts in the very early morning and goes as late as possible—as the organized team of pickers must be used to the fullest capacity possible—so there is a compromise of timing and processing conditions.

Basically, the strongest argument for machine harvested tea is that it gives more power to the private family run farm sector in that they do not need to compete with larger farms to organize teams of pickers at harvest time, and the labor force for tea picking is a real issue in recent years. What used to be a community-based, mutually supportive arrangement where tea farming families would help each other harvest their leaves has turned into hired laborers (increasingly migrant workers) who are looking for the most consistent and lucrative form of employment. This typically is in areas with larger farms that need pickers for several days of harvesting rather than smaller farms that harvest for only one or two days.

Not hiring a labor force cuts down on production cost a great deal. So farmers are able to produce their tea for less cost and sell it for a more reasonable price. Machine harvested tea sells for 1/3 to 1/10 the price of hand picked leaves, depending on elevation mostly. This is the most obvious point that indicates that cost and market standards set by high elevation tea producers are far more a factor than quality in determining the selling price.

Furthermore, machine harvesting is much faster and allows the farmer to harvest in ideal weather conditions at prime hours of the day, namely mid-morning to early afternoon. This allows for the solar withering phase to be done under the late morning to early afternoon sun, which is ideal. Hand-picking leaves is a time-consuming process that starts in the very early morning and goes as late as possible—as the organized team of pickers must be used to the fullest capacity possible—so there is a compromise of timing and processing conditions.

Hand-picked tea doesn’t always equal quality and machine-harvested tea doesn’t always result in lower quality. Many of the factors that we use to judge quality vs non-quality tea are not directly connected to the fact that the leaves were harvested by a hand-held hedge trimmer rather than picked by hand. There are many more significant factors that contribute to quality to be acknowledged, such as climate based on elevation, health of the tea plants themselves, experience of the farmer, and other environmental factors.

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