Early in the morning, before the sun has even risen, farmers are already starting their day, hoe in hand, heading to the fields. This is a common daily routine for most farmers.
For tea pickers, however, the day starts at 5 am, preparing to gather and head up the mountain to pick tea. Transport vans, often modified trucks, pick up the tea pickers on their way up the mountain. Despite their simple exterior, these vehicles have impressive interiors with comfortable seats, electric fans, and even televisions. After reaching the mountain, tea picking begins around 7 am. They don`t start picking at dawn for a reason: the dew still condensed on the surface of the tea leaves has not yet evaporated, and too much moisture can affect the quality of the tea. They wait for the sun to come out and the leaves to dry slightly before starting to pick. An hour after starting, the team leader calls everyone to gather the tea leaves for weighing, preparing to transport them back to the factory for withering. This is the tea pickers` breakfast time. On steep mountains, breakfast is usually bread, but if the terrain is more level, they might enjoy steaming hot noodles. Ideally, the tea flush is collected every hour to prevent the leaves from being damaged by being compressed in the picking basket. The last batch of tea must have time to be sun-dried, so the entire picking process usually ends around 5 pm, rushing to finish before the sun sets.
After the tea picking is over, the tea pickers gather to chat, play mahjong, and unwind. This is the daily life of a tea picker.
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