According to a Chinese legend, the earliest tea pluckers were monkeys. The rarest and best teas came from bushes growing in cliffs and other such places inaccessible by humans. The Buddhist monks therefore trained monkeys to pluck leaves from bushes that men could not reach. A variant of this legend has it that the Chinese would throw sticks and stones at the monkeys dwelling in the rocky areas where tea bushes grew. The angry monkeys would then break off branches of the tea bushes and throw them back at their tormentors.
Another tale by the painter Ran In-ting states that the Buddhist priests were addicted to tea and opium. The monkeys from nearby areas would imitate them by taking puffs from their opium pipes and be soon hooked to the stuff. The monks would then train these monkeys to pluck tea leaves from inaccessible places and reward them with a few puffs from their pipes. A win-win for both!
Also read: The Tea Pluckers of Assam
