Clonal variations in the response of black tea quality due to plucking standards

Black tea quality, as measured by chemical quality parameters and sensory evaluations, declines with coarse plucking standards. The extent of the decline varies with clone. Clone 68, with a high polyphenol content in the green leaf had a higher decline than clone S1510 with low polyphenol content results suggest a possible variation of recommended plucking standard for different clones.