Debut for drones in harvest of famous tea leaves

Drones have been used for the first time to pick Longjing tea, one of China's most famous teas, which is also known as West Lake dragon well tea.

The service, initiated by Alibaba's Cainiao ET logistics laboratory, uses unmanned craft to transport tea leaves from Shifeng Mountain, next to Hangzhou's West Lake, to the tea frying center in less than two minutes.

At the center the leaves are spread out in the sun and dried.

It is the first time drones have been used to transport green tea leaves in March, the traditional picking season for Longjing.

In the past, it took pickers more than an hour to bring tea leaves down from hillside tea plantations.

Dating back more than 1,200 years, Longjing tea got its name from the place where it is grown, Longjing village in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.

Drones transport freshly-picked tea leaves to a nearby tea frying center. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A work puts tea leaves into a package attached to a drone. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]