At the end of July and early August, our store manager headed up to the Cuifeng tea region to check on the autumn harvest. To sum it up in one phrase: “exceptional in both quality and quantity.” Not only is the yield abundant, but the leaves look gorgeous—truly living up to the high hopes we have for Cuifeng autumn tea.
The manager stayed in Cingjing the night before, where the temperature dropped to 12°C. It was genuinely chilly without a jacket. Arriving in Cuifeng at 6:00 AM, it was still just 14°C. Let’s just say there’s a very good reason why Cuifeng tea is of such high quality.
The manager started walking around the higher elevations near 2,100 meters. Take a look at the photos—would you believe this is autumn tea if nobody told you? Even by spring tea standards, this easily exceeds expectations. Photo 2 shows one of the tea gardens we’ve got our eyes on. After being pruned and fertilized following the spring harvest, aren’t the leaf thickness and serrated edges just stunning?
Photo 3 is another garden on our shortlist. Just look at how generously the tea farmer applied the fertilizer. How could tea grown like this not be top-notch?
Of course, some gardens were just so-so—those that hadn’t been pruned, had harvested summer tea, or lacked sufficient fertilizer. Their leaves looked thin and lacked vitality. We’ll happily leave those batches to other folks in the trade.
The harvest for the 2022 Cuifeng autumn tea will kick off in early August, running from the highest plots at 2,100 meters down to 1,600 meters over about two weeks. We’re very bullish on Cuifeng autumn tea; as long as the weather holds up, this year is going to be prime time for stocking up on autumn tea.
