Due to the impact of Typhoon Nesat, rain fell across various tea regions in central Taiwan on October 16. The northern areas like Lishan, Xinjiayang, and Cuiluan saw rain all day long. Further south, Cuifeng, Cingjing Meifeng, Songgang, DongYanShan, and Qilai Mountain experienced lighter rain, which stopped by evening. Weather forecasts predict clear skies starting the 17th.
Currently, the winter tea in Heping District and Ren’ai Township has only seen two rainy days: the 7th and the 16th. The rain on the 7th was light and had minimal impact, but the downpour on the 16th soaked the tea plantation soil completely. Based on experience, even if it turns sunny the day after or two days after a heavy rain, the quality remains unstable because the tea plants absorb too much water. Therefore, our store manager isn’t holding high expectations for the tea harvested on the 17th either.
Actually, it started raining on the afternoon of the 15th, though some tea farmers still picked tea in the rain. Tea pickers have tight schedules, and postponing causes a lot of trouble, so they keep going in light rain. There’s no need to worry about farmers being unable to sell their rainy-day tea; they just pass it off to opportunistic tea merchants or casual passersby anyway. After all, those buyers don’t know it rained and can’t tell the difference in quality.
Update for October 17: The northern areas like Lishan, Xinjiayang, Dayuling, and Cuiluan have sunshine mixed with scattered light rain, while the southern areas of Cuifeng, Cingjing, Qilai, and DongYanShan are enjoying clear, sunny skies. The weather forecast predicts good weather for the next few days, so there’s a great chance of producing some fine tea after the 18th!
