i have a relative who owns a tea plantation in the southern area of taiwan. once or twice a year i go to visit them for a holiday, and sometimes i help them collect tea leaves. a pound of tea is made of hundreds of dried tea leaves. the plant they come from is a small evergreen tree. usually my relatives trim the trees so that they are only about three feet tall. when they are three years old, the tree are ready for the first picking. only the buds and the very young leaves are picked. pickers carry baskets for the leaves as they walk along the rows. picking is done several times a season.