(Scott Dorsey) writes:

Dominic T. wrote:

...I keep Him in my other cupboard. He's alway up to hijinks like
parting my red wine though.

"I went to me bath for a Burma-Shave
This monkey going put me into the grave
The entire cabinet was laid to waste.
I had to shave with some green toothpaste."
-- Harry Belafonte

Belafonte? It's actually in the form of a sequence of Burma Shave
signs. Strange, but maybe no stranger than monkey-picked tea.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Lewis Perin wrote:
Alan writes:

[...]
the explanation of monkeys thrashing around and sending tea leaves
down to the ground is plausible compared to my mental image of monkeys
climbing trees and delicately pinching off tea buds.

Those would be male monkeys. For proper monkey-picked tea they hire
virgin female monkeys, who have the patience to do the job right.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

I'd take monkey-picked tea over civet cat pooped coffee any day, though.

--
HTTP://www.sushifaq.com/ The Sushi FAQ
HTTP://www.sushifaq.com/sushiotaku/ The Sushi Otaku Blog
HTTP://www.sushifaq.com/sushiyapedia/ Sushi-Ya-Pedia Restaurant Finder
HTTP://www.theteafaq.com/ The Tea FAQ
HTTP://www.jerkyfaq.com/ The Jerky FAQ
HTTP://www.omega3faq.com/ The Omega 3 Fatty Acids FAQ

So, what are the defining characteristics of "monkey-picked" tea?
Cultivar and/or locale?

Alan

On 2008-01-22, Alan wrote:

So, what are the defining characteristics of "monkey-picked" tea?
Cultivar and/or locale?

I've mostly heard it used in conjunction with Anxi Tieguanyin (or other
tightly balled oolongs), but the term itself (as used today) just refers
either to a vendor's best / signature tea, or to the difficulty of
picking the leaves of the bushes the tea comes from. Ultimately, the
term can basically be used by anyone for any purpose.

As to whether monkeys were ever actually employed to pick tea leaves, I
don't think anyone can say for sure (see a recent RFDT thread on this
very topic).

w

On Jan 22, 10:51*pm, Will Yardley
wrote:
As to whether monkeys were ever actually employed to pick tea leaves, I
don't think anyone can say for sure (see a recent RFDT thread on this
very topic).

Other than this one? I searched (on google groups) and didn't see
anything.

On Jan 11, 2:48*am, Nigel wrote:
As John Fortune notes, monkeys are not so easily trained to undertake
hard work and, with the exception of the long running Brooke Bond
chimps have nothing to do with tea. *I think, on balance, that the
case for monkey plucked tea leaves is definitely unproven and will
vote this one as MYTH."

Nigel at Teacraft

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

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

On Jan 27, 6:52*pm, Capheind wrote:
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?

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

On Jan 27, 6:52*pm, Capheind wrote:
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.