A small bud forms at the end of each stem and quickly becomes a young shoot. This end leaf is usually curled and forms the bud.

Other leaves are found on the stem and their number below the bud will determine the quality of the plucking: the more are removed, the lesser quality plucking.

There are three types of plucking:

• the imperial plucking: the bud and the leaf that directly follows.
• the fine plucking: the bud and the two leaves that follow. This is a harvest of excellent quality.
• the average plucking: the bud and the three leaves that follow. This gives a lesser quality tea than the previous two but it allows the tea plant to grow better.

The leaves are never plucked separately: the part of the stem that unites the young shoot and the leaves is always plucked as a whole.

In order to obtain some much sought-after teas, the 4th and 5th leaves, also called Souchong, are picked. These are usually to be found in smoked Chinese teas.

After a certain period of time the tea plant will have stems with no young shoots. This marks the resting period. The end bud is formed of the "deaf" leaf which is then removed in order to allow the stems to recover.

Plucking is still done, in the majority of cases, by hand. Mechanization of tea plucking is still very rare; with some exceptions however:

• in Japan scissors are used.
• also in Japan, and in Georgia, mechanized clippers are used to straddle the rows and pluck an area with a width of 1.5m. This method presupposes a flat terrain and a large harvest, except in Japan where mechanization is very advanced but also very expensive.
• in Argentina, tractors are used.

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