Thea ex machina

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Tillerman
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Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:30 pm

No foolin'; it's time for the April Ultracrepidarian's Corner. This month we'll take a look at the history and the future of mechanical tea harvesting. https://tillermantea.net/2019/04/machine-harvest/
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debunix
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Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:21 am

Do you have any links to the 'plucking' machines in action, vs those that cut/shear the outer layers of the plant?

So curious! And it is hard to see things going back to 100% hand plucking everywhere, so cool to see that people are trying to optimize the machines for tea quality as well as tea quantity.
Ethan Kurland
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Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:47 am

Thanks for another good article. Comments on your site about the article on your site are also interesting. cheers
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Bok
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Sun Apr 07, 2019 6:20 pm

I dare say that your blog corner on Tillermantea is the ONLY (active) tea blog worth reading at the moment! No other place has in-depth, well researched and unbiased articles. I am learning something every time!

As opposed to all the other, mostly subjective musings of people who have not much to say, nor especially good access to really good tea to base their writings on.

Hooray for Tillerman! Keep going, the community needs more of this and less of the rest!
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Tillerman
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Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:47 pm

@Ethan Kurland and @Bok, thank you for your kind comments. I truly appreciate them. Cheers.
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Tillerman
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Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:58 pm

debunix wrote:
Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:21 am
Do you have any links to the 'plucking' machines in action, vs those that cut/shear the outer layers of the plant?

So curious! And it is hard to see things going back to 100% hand plucking everywhere, so cool to see that people are trying to optimize the machines for tea quality as well as tea quantity.
@debunix, the best site probably is http://williamestea.com/ There are some good pictures of the selective harvesting on the site. The photo below shows the difference in growth after 7 days using a selective harvest machine vs. a more traditional cutting machine.
KENYA CROP GROWTH COMPARISON AFTER 7 DAYS WILLIAMES SELECTIVE LEFT & OCHAI KAWASAKI CUT ALL ON RIGHT.jpg
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debunix
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Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:48 am

Thanks for the link!
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