PG Lips: Chinese tea plantation seeks virgins to pick leaves with their MOUTHS

Virgins must also have a bra size of at least a C cup

Girls have to 'cleanse themselves completely' before work

Leaves used to be picked by fairies' mouth, legend states

Special tea can cure diseases, claims company



It is billed as the most refined tea in the world, and possibly with some justification – the leaves are picked by a group of virgins using just their lips.

The leaves, gathered on lush mountainsides in central China, must be in their first flush and are dropped into baskets hanging from the pickers’ necks.

Legend has it that the leaves used to be picked by fairies with their mouths. When boiling water is poured on the leaves, fairies ascend amid the steam into the sky.



Good plucking: A carefully selected virgin uses her mouth to pick a tea leaf before placing it in a wicket basket

Now new pickers are being sought, with adverts in Gushi, Henan province, specifying that ‘applicants must be virgins’ and offering payment of £50 a day, a fortune in China.

They must also have at least a C-cup bra size – virginity and curviness are believed to promote well-being and purity.



The local job advert, which has caused controversy in the area, read: 'Lip tea is hiring full-time tea-leaf pickers.

'A prospective employee has to be a woman with no sexual experience, a bra size of at least a C cup, and no scar or wound visible on her body with a uniform.'

But this method has come under fire as being a practice that objectifies and disrespects females, claims the firm denies.

The recruitment is rigorous - the company looks for the 'purest', 'cleanest' and 'strongest' virgins as they are the key to the tea’s success.

Easy does it: The picker places the tea leaf into her Chaliuqing, a handmade wicket basket

Upwardly mobile: The leaves are gathered from mountains near Gushi, Henan province, by the virgins

Li Yong, a spokesman for the Jiuhua plantation, said: 'It is much harder work than it looks.



'They have to cleanse themselves completely before they start working and perform a special exercise programme to build up their necks and lips.

'It’s a long standing tradition - it is a tradition we do not want to lose so need to pass on to new employees. We are currently recruiting 10 C cup virgin tea pickers.

The girls are not allowed to touch the tea leaves with their hands at any point and all the picking has to be done through the lips.

The leaves are put into the baskets which are called Chaliuqing and have to made from the freshest willow twigs and also not touched by hand.

Mr Li confirmed the recruitment information was true. He also said an upcoming tea culture festival would include a performance of virgins picking tea leaves with their lips.

'We are hiring 10 girls to perform the traditional ritual to pass on interest in the tradition and keep it alive. We will auction off the tea leaves that they pick,' Mr Li added.

The so-called 'lip tea' comes from a legend that tea leaves used to be picked by fairies with their mouths.



When boiling water is poured on to these tea leaves, fairies will ascend amidst steam into the sky.



Tea made from these leaves has a refreshing aroma and taste and can even cure diseases and aid weight loss, claims the firm.

Last century some Chinese tea sellers experimented with the idea of ‘tea in front of breasts’, involving a group of 16-year-old virgins started picking tea and sleeping with it on their breasts during the night.



The next day it was thought the tea leaves would have picked up enough of the virgins scent to have health and wellbeing benefits.

