The “final exam” of high mountain tea season—winter tea season—has officially begun, kicking off with the key growing region of Lishan. Today, we’re sharing an update on how the winter tea is coming along in the back mountains of Lishan: Cuiluan, Malieba, and Diaoqiaotou 👍👍
Things are looking “pretty good” up in Cuiluan, Lixing Diaoqiaotou, and the Malieba Settlement. While frequent rain in August took a heavy toll on the autumn tea, it actually worked to the benefit of the winter tea yield. This year’s winter tea yield is looking great, with the average quality of the tea leaves sitting solidly in the upper-mid range. Well-managed tea bushes are robust and full of vitality, ready to produce some fantastic tea.
A small number of tea gardens started harvesting at the end of September, but most are still tender and growing. Some won’t be ready until after the 20th, and the winter harvest in this area will likely run through the end of October.
Cuiluan, Maliguan, Diaoqiaotou, and the Malieba settlement—the tea gardens along this stretch are looking absolutely stunning. The catch right now is that a typhoon is on the way, and the forecast calls for six days of rain (Figure 2). If it really rains for six days, these tea leaves will become over-matured, and harvesting in the rain will turn what should be top-tier premium tea into a second-grade product. Right now, quite a few tea merchants and farmers are probably right there with us, praying the typhoon makes a turn!
The tea gardens in the photos were originally scheduled for harvest from the 4th to the 10th. If the rain really keeps up until the 10th, we’ll have to skip these blocks—it’s tough to make great tea in the rain.