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Imperial pluck - two leaves and a bud, the tea plucking standard

Many things decide the quality of tea, but one of the most important is settled at the very start, in the field: which leaves are picked. The best tea is harvested by the old rule of a bud and two leaves, that is plucking only the unopened bud at the tip of the shoot together with the two youngest leaves beneath it. It is not a whim nor tradition for its own sake, but a choice based on chemistry: it is precisely in these youngest parts of the shoot that the most aroma-giving compounds hide, and the least of those that give bitterness and fibre. The older the leaf, the worse. Here is a guide to tea plucking standards: why a bud and two leaves is the ideal, what fine plucking and the imperial pluck are and how leaf age translates into flavour.

A bud and two leaves

The most famous tea plucking standard is a bud and two leaves. It consists of plucking the unopened bud at the very tip of the shoot together with the two youngest leaves just below it. It is a very old rule, going back in China at least to the Tang dynasty. It applies to all tea cultivars and is considered the ideal compromise between quality, picker productivity and yield. Most processing operations in the world use this standard, regardless of the method of manufacture or the variety of the bush. A bud and two leaves is therefore not a local curiosity but a universal benchmark of good plucking. Understanding why these particular parts of the shoot, and not older leaves, is the key to all the rest: the chemistry, the quality and the various plucking standards.

Why these leaves in particular

The choice of a bud and two leaves is not accidental, but follows from the chemistry of the plant. It is precisely in these youngest parts of the shoot that the correct proportions of the compounds and enzymes responsible for the flavour and aroma of the finished tea are found. Young leaves are rich in catechins, caffeine and volatile aromatic compounds, that is what builds the complex, nuanced character of good tea. As the shoot grows and the leaf ages, its composition changes: fibre and structural tannins increase, which give bitterness and astringency, while the valuable flavour compounds decline. In other words, the youngest leaves are the peak of the flavour potential of the shoot, and the older ones are already its decline. This is why the tip of the shoot is plucked, not the whole. The age of the leaf decides its value even before any processing.

Leaf age and flavour

The difference between a young and an old leaf is fundamental to flavour. As a leaf grows, the concentration of amino acids and polyphenols spreads over a wider area, and even a few millimetres of size difference can change the character of the finished tea. Younger leaves carry a higher concentration of catechins, caffeine and volatile aromatic compounds, giving complexity and nuance. Older, more mature leaves, by contrast, are richer in crude fibre and structural tannins, which bring bitterness and astringency rather than refined flavour. This is why tea from young leaves is more delicate, more aromatic and less bitter, and from old leaves simpler and more astringent. A small difference in the age and size of the leaf therefore translates directly into what you taste in the cup. It makes the plucking standard one of the foundations of quality.

Plucking standards: fine, medium, coarse

Tea plucking standards are usually divided into fine, medium and coarse, depending on how young the leaves picked are. Fine plucking takes only the bud and two youngest leaves, giving the highest quality but with a smaller amount of harvested material. Medium and coarse plucking reach for more, older leaves, giving more raw material but lower quality. They are classified by the share of fine, young leaf in the harvested material: fine plucking is about seventy-five percent of such leaf, medium less, and coarse below sixty. The higher the share of young leaves, the better the tea. This shows that plucking is not a binary matter but a scale. The grower chooses the standard, balancing quality against quantity, depending on what tea they want to produce.

A table of plucking standards

Let us gather the standards in one place:

The table shows a simple relationship: the younger and finer the material picked, the higher the quality of the tea, but also the smaller the amount from one harvest.

The imperial pluck

At the very top of the quality scale stands the so-called imperial pluck, the most selective and refined form of plucking. It is a rare, exceptional event, taking place in China in spring, in May, and only in the few villages famed for producing the most famous teas. Only the youngest, most delicate parts of the shoot are plucked then, with the greatest care. The name itself refers to teas once reserved for the imperial court. The imperial pluck is the essence of the idea that the quality of tea begins with the precision of plucking: the more delicate and younger the material, the nobler the tea. It is plucking for the highest shelf, laborious and yielding little, but giving material of unrivalled potential. It is proof of how far selection can be taken in the pursuit of perfection.

Hand plucking and its cost

Such precise plucking, like a bud and two leaves or the imperial pluck, requires the manual work of skilled pickers, who in the blink of an eye judge what to pluck and what to leave. It is laborious and costly, because little is gathered from one bush in one pass. Machine plucking, used in the production of cheap, mass tea, cuts everything indiscriminately, without selection, so older leaves and stems also reach the material, lowering the quality. This is why the best teas are picked by hand, and their price reflects this effort. The choice between hand and machine plucking is another aspect of the same relationship: quality costs work and time. Hand, selective plucking is one of the main reasons noble teas are more expensive than those off the line.

Plucking, cultivar and terroir

The plucking standard does not act alone, but together with the rest of the factors shaping tea. The best material, a bud and two youngest leaves, will reveal its full potential only when it comes from a good cultivar, a favourable terroir and reaches the hands of a master of processing. Perfect plucking from a poor bush or a bad place will not give an outstanding tea, and vice versa. Plucking is one of the pillars of quality, alongside the variety, the place and the processing of the leaf. We cover the role of the variety more in tea cultivars, and the influence of place in tea terroir. Only all these elements together create a great tea. The plucking standard is the moment at which the potential of the leaf, built by the variety and the place, is either fully used or wasted by too greedy a pluck.

How to use it

For a tea lover, knowledge of plucking is a practical hint of quality. More and more often tea descriptions give the plucking standard or boast of the delicate, hand plucking of a bud and two leaves. Pay attention to such information, because it gives away how carefully the leaf was picked. You can also judge it yourself by looking at the dry leaf: the presence of fine buds and young, even leaves is a sign of good plucking, while many stems and thick, old leaves signals a poorer one. We cover how tea is made from the leaf more in how tea is made. Over time you will learn to link the delicacy and aroma of a tea to the care of its plucking. It is a higher level of understanding tea, at which you read quality already from the look of the dry leaf.

The essentials in brief

Let us gather it up. The plucking standard decides the quality of tea already in the field. The classic rule is a bud and two leaves, that is plucking the unopened bud with the two youngest leaves, known in China since the Tang dynasty and considered the ideal compromise of quality, productivity and yield. The choice of these leaves follows from chemistry: the young parts of the shoot are rich in catechins, caffeine and aromas, and poor in fibre and bitter tannins, which increase with leaf age. Standards are divided into fine, medium and coarse, and at the top stands the imperial pluck, the most selective. Such precise plucking requires hand work and is costly. Now you know why the best tea is picked as a bud and two leaves and how leaf age decides the flavour.

Note every tea in GustoNote - the kind, the leaf quality and the character you sense. Over time you will start to link the delicacy and aroma of a tea to the care of its plucking, and understand more deeply where the quality of a good infusion comes from.