Pluck the best (two leaves and a bud) on International Tea Day.

The United Nations General Assembly has recently designated May 21 as International Tea Day which has been done on the proposal put forth by India at FAO Inter-governmental Group (IGG) on Tea in 2015 in Milan.

The Tea Board India said this being the first year of official celebration of the most preferred beverage in the world, it has planned a series of programmes through various platforms.

The name — two leaves and a bud — refers to the very tender young tea shoots (new growth) comprising of one bud the first leaf and the second leaf. The age of leaf increases and quality decreases as we go down. Bud is the youngest part of a growing shoot. Since the bud and the first and second leaves gives most of the desired quality of tea, this term is used.

The plucking standard that most people are familiar with is two leaves and a bud. Quality plucking requires good hand and eye coordination, dexterity, accuracy, focus and speed.

“Since quality is the prime parameter which upholds the name of our country in the global market, a special tea plucking and manufacturing limited edition activity followed by auctioning of teas has been planned on May 21,” the director of tea development, Tea Board, S. Soundararajan, said on Saturday.

The manufacturers in the country shall pluck green leaf of highest quality (two leaves and a bud) on May 21 and the teas so plucked shall be manufactured by May 22. Both estate and bought leaf factories can participate in this limited edition voluntary endeavour.

These teas shall be packed in paper sacks for offering in auctions, the maximum number of packages in a lot should not exceed five and a manufacturing unit can offer maximum five lots only for all category of teas (CTC and orthodox). For Darjeeling tea and specialty teas the maximum quantity is 15kg.

“A special auction of these teas will be organised in all the auction centres during June and a percentage of sale proceeds will be shared with relief funds or as decided by the committee to be set up for this purpose,” he said.

The gardens/manufacturing units which want to participate in this voluntary endeavour should send in their details to the respective auction centres by Tuesday.

All the activities of plucking, manufacturing, packaging, and should be carried out in strict compliance with all the social-distancing norms laid down in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.