Lishan winter tea will have its peak harvest around October 12th. I went up to Lishan a few days ago to check on how the tea plants are growing, and unfortunately, this year won’t be a bumper crop for winter tea.
While this year’s Lishan autumn tea was an incredible harvest with some of the best quality and yield we’ve seen in recent years, the winter tea hasn’t been quite as fortunate. A drought in August resulted in fewer tea buds across the Lishan tea regions, including Songmao Settlement, around the farms, from 83K to 89K, and Xinjiyang. To make matters worse, an early cold snap stunted the plants’ growth, keeping the leaves small. It’s safe to say that the production of authentic Lishan winter tea in 2022 will be even lower than usual.
On the bright side, though there are fewer buds, the leaves are thick and robust. Despite their smaller size, they look very promising. Combined with the longer growing period for this winter’s crop that I mentioned earlier, as long as it doesn’t rain during the harvest season, 2022 Lishan winter tea has a real chance of being a year of “small quantity, exceptional quality”!
I’ve already done some digging, and harvesting will begin around the farms and from 83K to 89K starting October 7th, with peak availability expected around the 12th. Because yields will be lower this year—coupled with the uncertainty around the blocked roads to Xinjiyang—you’ll likely need to act fast to secure genuine, top-tier Lishan tea. For tea lovers who are running low at home, just hold on a few more days. I’ll be heading up the mountain on the 12th to secure the best batches, and I won’t come back empty-handed!
