In early August, the store manager visited LongFengXia to check on the autumn tea crop. Since both Cuifeng and Lishan autumn teas were looking great, we initially expected the LongFengXia Budongyu tea to be exceptional as well, but it turned out to be merely “mediocre.”
This year’s LongFengXia spring tea easily outperformed many Lishan teas, so the store manager had high hopes for the autumn harvest. However, the actual quality wasn’t quite up to par. If Cuifeng scores a 90, LongFengXia sits around… 70, perhaps. This year’s autumn tea truly falls short of LongFengXia’s stellar reputation.
Furthermore, it seems autumn tea yields won’t be very high. Only about 70% of tea plantations above 1,700 meters will be harvested. Many plantations below that elevation are skipping the harvest altogether—some are leaving the leaves on to nourish the bushes, while others pruned early to focus on delivering top-tier winter tea.
A few rare highlights include a handful of high-altitude tea gardens that are growing quite well, though their yield is also limited. Around the 1,500-meter elevation, the tea buds at LongFengXia and Budongyu are still very tender, making it hard to tell how they will turn out just yet; harvesting probably won’t begin until September.
After speaking with several tea farmers, it’s clear they are all saving their energy for the winter harvest. The store manager believes many LongFengXia farmers possess a true artisan spirit: if the autumn tea isn’t up to standard, they simply won’t harvest it. Instead, they prioritize quality, give the tea bushes time to rest and recover, and save the showdown for the winter tea.
To wrap things up, we still have to give credit to the LongFengXia tea region. The store manager often says this tea region has “extraordinary bones.” When the manager arrived at 5:30 AM that day, the weather was gorgeous; fog rolled in by 8:00 AM, and by 9:00 AM just as we were leaving, it turned into a bizarre mix of bright sunshine and dense fog. It’s safe to say there’s a good reason LongFengXia so often produces uniquely stellar teas.
