Tea · Makaibari
Walk out with the pluckers at dawn
Leave your homestay early with your host and walk to the sections being plucked that day. Watch the 'two leaves and a bud' rule done by hand at speed, and learn how a plucking day is organised.
Plucking starts early in the season. Women do most of the plucking, each with a basket or bag on her back held by a strap across the forehead, moving along the rows and taking the top two leaves and a bud with quick, practised fingers. The leaf is weighed during the day and sent to the factory.
If you stay in a Makaibari village homestay, ask your host to take you to the section being plucked that morning. Walk on the paths, not between the bushes, and keep out of the way of the work. Ask before you photograph anyone.
Spring (first flush, March–April) is the most delicate plucking; early summer (second flush, May–June) is the most famous; autumn flush comes in October and November.
Cost: Free for homestay guests · tip your guide
Questions people ask
Good to know
What does 'two leaves and a bud' mean?
It is the standard fine plucking for Darjeeling tea: the unopened bud at the tip of a shoot plus the two youngest leaves below it. These give the most aromatic tea. Coarser plucking takes more leaves and makes cheaper grades.
Can I try plucking tea at Makaibari?
Sometimes a host or supervisor will let you try a few shoots for fun, but do not pick on your own. Pluckers are paid by the weight and quality of their leaf, and visitors who pick, trample or slow the work cost them money.
Which months have tea plucking?
Roughly March to November. First flush is March–April, second flush May–June, monsoon flush July–September and autumn flush October–November. The bushes rest and are pruned from about December to February.
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