2020,Spring tea harvest .

    Another spring tea season. Every spring, spring tea brings a spring sunshine and dew and vitality. From the tea garden to the tea cup, it gives people the color and fragrance created by nature and human beings. March, April, and May are the busiest times in my family every year. Because we have to make tea in different places as well. From 2013 to now, every year from March 15th to April 5th, our family is in Phoenix Mountain, Chaozhou,my husband hometown for spring harvest . Because of the epidemic situation this year. We came to Chaozhou on the 10th. In Chaozhou, we live on a mountain 800 meters above sea level. Here, it is difficult for us to feel that our beautiful earth is being swept by viruses. I hope the epidemic will pass quickly, and we can live a normal life and laugh about life.   

                                  


     This year, my family start the picking on March 18th. The earliest variety picked in Fenghuang Mountain was the white leaf(Bai ye白叶）(also known as the Mi Lanxiang ). This variety is an early-ripped species, and it is normally harvested before Qingming (April 5th).

         This is the Bai ye leaves.

    Recently  I received several emails from teafriends asking questions about new tea. I want to explain something accoring cognition.
     
     1:  Many people believe that the earlier the quality of spring tea picked, the better. Actually not. To be precise, it should be that the quality of the head spring tea is good. This is because the tea tree has taken a rest in winter, and the roots buried deep in the soil absorb enough nutrients, making the tea buds germinated in spring and rich in nutrients such as vitamins. The aroma is strong, the taste is fresh, and the changes are rich. And tea trees in spring are generally free of pests and diseases, so the quality of tea picked in the first spring is often the best in a year. As long as it is picked in the first wave of spring, it is considered spring tea, which is not to say that the sooner it is picked, the better. On the contrary, if you pick it prematurely, the sprouts of the tea are not fully developed, and the effective nutrients are not accumulated enough. The tea produced is not only light in aroma, but also astringent, light, and not resistant to foaming,I think.
                              

                              

walk around in the garden 95% cultivar just come out the buds

at least wait for 10-15days for the peak period

2: Many people generally think that as long as the tea is picked and made during the Qingming Festival, it is called  Ming qian (明前 before Qingming Festival,before5th of April）tea. This view is also one-sided. The tea before the Qingming   is the name of spring tea in different stages of Jiang nan （江南） tea area in China according to solar terms. Theu main category of Mingqian tea is green tea, while oolong tea and black tea do not emphasize Mingqian tea. In addition, although spring tea in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places are also harvested before the Qingming Festival, it cannot be called Mingqian tea. Because most of the Southwest and South China tea areas are located in southern China, the temperature picks up early in the spring, and tea harvesting often begins during the Spring Festival each year.

                      2020 is really a special year and I hope we all have good luck.