'Two leaves and one bud. You know it?' asks David Sakindi, estate manager at the Nyabihu tea factory.
'It is the perfect balance for quality and production. Two leaves and one bud only from each bush.'
The tea pickers' hands are a flurry of picking, gripping and placing the leaves into the weaved baskets on their backs.
'They are trained and know the best way to bring the quality of tea that we need; the quality that makes this tea very different from Kenya, or anywhere.'
The piece-work pickers barely look up to acknowledge my presence, so intent are they on filling their baskets.
'How much are they paid?' I ask.
'They are not employed. They are paid when they bring the leaves to us - twenty-two francs (2.2 pence) a kilogram.'
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