More monkey-picked tea

Alan · 2008-01-10T19:28:29+00:00

"Nowadays the practice of monkeys picking tea has all but died out,except in one small remote village where they still continue thisremarkable tradition. No monkeys are harmed or mistreated in order forus to bring this rare brew to you!"Okay, is there even a shred of truth to this idea? Have monkeys EVERbeen used to "pick" tea? I wouldn't think so, but then I read the explanation of monkeys thrashing around and sending tea leavesdown to the ground is plausible compared to my mental image of monkeysclimbing trees and delicately pinching off tea buds.Alan

Jan 10, 2008 Last reply: 18 years ago 22 Replies

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Capheind 18 years ago

Ok, but is it at all possible that the tea currently sold as Monkey Picked is in fact Monkey Picked? I've seen monkeys trained to do even more improbable things, so is it at all likely that hearing the myth some village in china got curious and gave it a shot? One would assume that if it wasn't actually monkey picked they would put that somewhere on the label to protect themselves from false advertising suits. Although I suppose they could just as easily word their claim so that it actually doesn't guarantee its Monkey Picked but rather that they were told it was Monkey Picked.

-Troy

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Nigel 18 years ago

If Monkey Picked tea were true the PC brigade would have it banned tomorrow.

I'm just back from a week in Malawi commissioning one of our Teacraft ECM Systems miniature manufacture lines - the "tea factory in a box". While there I saw the latest in political correctness - a new sign outside a tea estate stating that they do not employ anyone under the age of 18. In a country where parents and kids mostly cannot afford education past 14 the tea estates used to be a good place to ensure at least a moderate income and some job security for school leavers. Now Fair Trading rules forbids the use of child labor (i.e. below the age of 18), by which age the youngsters have long migrated to dubious employment in the cities. The tea estate managers know it makes no sense - but customers clamor for teas with Fair Trade acreditation - so what can they do?

Nigel at Teacraft

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Nigel 18 years ago

Unilever Birds Eye won a UK court case brought against them for fraudulently selling a frozen meat product named 'Dinosaur Steaks' on the grounds that no reasonable person could believe that they were in fact made from dinosaur meat. If, even in less rational times, John Fortune could dismiss monkey picking as mythology, how gullible would you need to be now to believe it?

Nigel at Teacraft

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