Hey tea lovers, following the news from the Lishan tea region, we have another piece of bad news. We couldn’t find any good autumn tea from Cingjing and Cuifeng for 2023, so we’ve decided not to stock it 😭😭
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The autumn tea from Cingjing and Cuifeng has had some terrible luck this year. Typhoon Khanun cut off both access routes to the tea region—Provincial Highway 14 and the Lixing Industrial Road. Aside from delayed harvesting, between August 1st and 20th, there were only five or six days of good weather. The rest of the time brought heavy downpours or afternoon showers, making harvesting and processing conditions “extremely poor.”
When it rains, it pours, and naturally, the autumn tea didn’t turn out great. Due to delayed harvesting and excessive rain, the flavor of the tea is mostly on the weak side. As of our tastings through August 19th, we still haven’t found anything we love. With the tea season drawing to a close, barring any surprises, we won’t be purchasing any 2023 Cingjing and Cuifeng autumn tea.
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If the autumn harvest of 2022 was the best in the past 5 years, then 2023 is easily the most disappointing autumn tea in recent memory, simply because of relentless rain. Making tea relies on Mother Nature, and if she doesn’t cooperate, there’s not much we can do. We’ll just have to put our hopes into the winter harvest!
Note: Due to road closures and continuous heavy rain, quite a few tea farmers in Cingjing and Cuifeng reduced their harvest this year or skipped it altogether to focus their energy on winter tea quality. Who knows, those tea gardens that skipped the autumn harvest might just turn out some amazing winter tea—definitely something to look forward to!
#Photos showing road closures and inability to enter the tea region are from the 2022 autumn harvest
#Personal evaluation does not imply that all Cuifeng and Cingjing autumn tea is subpar
