When the shopkeeper visited Cingjing in early August, whether in Songgang or Meifeng, the tea leaves were “simply gorgeous!” If I had to grade them, Cuifeng would get a 90, Lishan Xinjiayang an 85, and I’d give the Songgang Meifeng autumn tea a very high score of 88. I’m not just saying this—take a look at the photos first. Can you even tell this is autumn tea?
This year’s spring tea had a whole week of rain, so the overall quality wasn’t great—even worse than previous years. But autumn tea is a bit different, offering both good quality and yield. As long as the weather stays stable from early to mid-August, the Songgang Meifeng autumn tea has a great chance of yielding an exceptional harvest.
This time, I’m focusing mainly on two tea plantations known for meticulous management and generous fertilization. Chatting with the tea grower, he complained about how much fertilizer prices have spiked this year. I asked around and found out that a 30 kg bag of soybean fertilizer went up by over NT$100. Since his Songgang plantation uses 200 bags per season, that means an extra NT$20,000 in costs.
I did a quick mental calculation: his farm is just over 1 chia (about 0.97 hectares). While a normal plantation uses 100 to 150 bags, he uses 200. He really spares no expense, which is why his autumn tea grows so well!
I’ll share some photos of the Songgang and Meifeng tea gardens with you all first, and I’ll keep you posted when there’s good news!
