As the Lishan winter tea season nears its end, ShanLinXi LongFengXia is just entering its main harvest period. This year’s winter harvest for LongFengXia and Budongyu is “looking great,” and with fantastic weather during picking, this season is shaping up to be “above average in quality.”
Located at elevations between 1,600 and 1,800 meters, the LongFengXia and Budongyu tea gardens began their winter harvest around October 10th. From the 14th to the 22nd, it was “sunny every single day.” With the favorable weather, harvesting went extremely smoothly, with very few delays that would lead to overmature leaves (though a few plots were picked a bit late). In fact, some tea gardens were actually ahead of schedule, prompting tea owners to continue harvesting tender leaves without interruption. Overall conditions for harvesting and processing were simply fantastic!
As for yield, winter tea production is “comparable to previous years.” LongFengXia winter tea yields about half of its spring harvest, while Budongyu yields about a third (Budongyu winter tea yields are always much lower than spring). Currently (as of October 23rd), about 80% of the tea gardens above 1,600 meters have been harvested, while those below 1,500 meters will likely continue harvesting into November.
Compared to the mixed results of the winter tea harvest in Lishan, Cuifeng, and Cingjing, this year is a time when tea farmers, merchants, and makers in LongFengXia and Budongyu are “all happy,” at least through October 23rd. We’ve been sourcing some great lots over the past couple of days, and we’ll have them up on the site as soon as they’re ready. Stay tuned!
