Beheaded Tea and Horseshoe : Eccentric Terms in the Tea World

In the ancient tea tree regions of Yunnan, trees are often topped-with their upper sections cut away to limit their height to that of one or two people-in order to boost yields and facilitate easier harvesting; such trees are colloquially known as "headless tea" (*kàntóu chá*). The term "horseshoe" (*mǎtí*) refers to a hard lump found at the base of the tea stalk; this occurs because tea pickers, rather than gently snapping off the leaf stalk, forcefully yank or tear it away, causing the woody end of the stalk to form a horseshoe-shaped, hardened mass in the finished tea. These terms reflect the actual conditions and harvesting practices involved in tea production.