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Thea ex machina

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 7:30 pm
by Tillerman
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/

Re: Thea ex machina

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:21 am
by debunix
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.

Re: Thea ex machina

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:47 am
by Ethan Kurland
Thanks for another good article. Comments on your site about the article on your site are also interesting. cheers

Re: Thea ex machina

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 6:20 pm
by Bok
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!

Re: Thea ex machina

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:47 pm
by Tillerman
@Ethan Kurland and @Bok, thank you for your kind comments. I truly appreciate them. Cheers.

Re: Thea ex machina

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:58 pm
by Tillerman
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

Re: Thea ex machina

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:48 am
by debunix
Thanks for the link!