Tea industry turns a new leaf with AI to improve quality and flavour

AI, ML and data analytics-enabled system is used to count the fine leaf percentage of plucked leaves

India’s tea industry is turning over a new leaf — and your morning cuppa may just get more aromatic and flavourful as a result. Inspired by the success of other sectors such as FMCG, manufacturing, banking and telecom in using the latest technologies to improve efficiency, the Tea Board of India and other tea bodies are looking at artificial intelligence (AI), big data and analytics and machine learning (ML) to enhance the quality of tea so that it can command higher prices in the world market.

A labour intensive sector where wages account for over 50 per cent of the total