GUWAHATI: The tea plucking season in the Northeast will commence from next week.
The Tea Board through an order on Tuesday said that plucking of tea leaf and receiving of green leaves by all tea factories for manufacturing of tea will have to commence from February 17, 2020 after the winter dormancy of tea bush is over and the tea bush starts producing tea leaves afresh.
The Board has set the date for first flush tea gardens in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur.
It stated that it has received suggestions/feedback from industry stakeholders and there have been consultations before stipulating the timeline for the start of the next cropping season/manufacturing in accordance with the natural cropping pattern of the tea bush.
“In the event of any prospect of early cropping and start of manufacturing before the timeline by any manufacturer due to favourable conditions or other factors, it must be brought to the notice of the registering authority prior to such occurrence,” the Board stated in the order.
Leaves plucked during the first flush are tender and light green and are said to yield the purest and freshest cup of tea that the plant is capable of producing.