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How Exploring the Seasonality of Teas Can Help With Finding the Perfect Cup
Michele LillieIn the nuanced world of tea, understanding the seasonality of teas from revered tea-producing regions like China, Japan, and Taiwan enriches both the palate and the mind. Each season brings unique harvests, influencing the teas' aroma, flavor, and cost. Let's delve into the seasonal rhythms of tea production across these countries and explore what tea enthusiasts should look for when selecting their next brew.
In India, teas are categorized as First Flush, Second Flush, Monsoon Flush and Autumnal Flush based on when they are harvested, as discussed in this earlier blog post. Other tea-producing countries also respect the seasons but use different terms. There are similarities and differences between the tea harvests in China, Taiwan and Japan. Let’s first look at the seasons in a general manner.
Spring Teas
Teas harvested during the spring are generally the most prized. However, they are a minor amount of the year’s harvest due to slower growth, leading to higher prices.
Most green and white teas are picked as early in the spring as possible. The first buds appear as the plant wakes up from winter dormancy. Because the plant stores carbohydrates and other nutrients during the dormant season, these spring-harvested teas tend to have the most natural sweetness and least astringency.
Summer Teas
As summer ramps up, so does the growth of the tea plant. This faster growth rate results in less time for the leaves to store sugar and develop nuanced flavors, which means these teas have less natural sweetness.
The tea plants also face more pests and produce natural compounds that act as pesticides. While good for the plant, these compounds also produce more bitterness and astringency in the cup.
Summer is the season when most mass-produced teas are picked by hand or machine. Although the summer may produce very nice teas, they are not usually considered the highest quality.
This is not to say that these teas do not have their place. Even though their flavors are less complex, these leaves are also abundant and sell for a lower price. So, they become perfect for tea bags, loose-leaf tea blends, and teas with added flavors. They are also used in items such as bubble tea or kombucha. Jasmine green teas are made from leaves harvested during May and then carefully stored, awaiting the blooming of the jasmine plants.
Fall Teas
Though fall teas are discussed much less often than those picked in spring, autumn harvests are considered respectable in many tea-growing regions.
Winter Teas
Many tea plants enter a dormant period during the year's coldest months. Although they are not producing new leaves, they are storing carbohydrates and nutrients in their roots, awaiting the spring to produce those delightful new leaves.
In warmer areas, tea may be harvested throughout this time of the year. However, the leaves they put out the following spring are not as high quality as leaves from tea plants that have been dormant.
Let’s look at how this all plays out in the tea-producing countries of China, Taiwan and Japan.
Although there are four seasons for harvesting teas, the two most important ones in China are the spring season for green and white teas and the autumn season for oolongs. China uses the lunar calendar to divide the tea seasons, so the dates vary slightly from year to year. There are names for multiple points in time for both the spring and summer seasons, but the spring ones are the most important in the tea world.
Spring Harvested Teas
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Pre-Qing Ming or Ming Qian tea
- Tea that is picked before the Qing Ming Festival, which happens around April 4th or 5th.
- According to the Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art, Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) is a holiday devoted to remembering and honoring the deceased. People sweep and decorate gravesites, burn incense and paper money, and make food offerings.
- Teas picked during this time are highly prized for their delicate and sweet flavors that arise due to the slow growth during the winter.
- The small, budding leaves picked during these few weeks contain the most natural sugars and the smallest amount of astringent tannins.
- English Tealeaves’ most wonderful example of this type of tea is our Silver Needles white tea.
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Qing Ming, Yu Qian, Before the Rains tea
- This tea is picked after Qing Ming and before Gu Yu (Grain Rain). It falls between the 19th and 21st of April each year.
- This is an important harvest season, as the coming rains will increase growth rates and delay harvests.
- Due to increased growth, the leaves produce a bolder brew, although not as much as those picked later in the year.
- The increased yields during this time may mean more affordable prices.
- Our extraordinary Yellow Meadow green tea is harvested just after Qing Ming.
- Our Dragon Well is also in this category.
- Many Chinese black teas (called red teas in China) are made with spring buds. The most visually striking examples of this style are from Yunnan, such as our Golden Red .
- A final Chinese spring teas that we carry is a delicious dark oolong - Ancient Beauty.
- Two black teas that are harvested during May are:
After the spring season, the harvests do not follow a strict calendar. They may be harvested at any time from April to November. For many oolongs, the most sought-after harvests do not begin until September and run throughout the autumn.
In general, Taiwan's tea farms yield four harvests per year. The farms located at a higher elevation might only have two harvests.
Spring – late March in low-altitude areas and April in higher elevations.
- Many excellent Taiwanese oolongs, including Pouchong (Bao Zhong), are harvested in the spring.
- Other Taiwanese spring leaves are processed into green teas.
- You can taste these outstanding Taiwanese spring teas by trying these light oolong teas.
Summer – June, July, early August
- One of the most recognizable oolongs harvested during this time is Oriental Beauty.
- Other summer teas are made into both green and black teas.
- We are one of the few tea shops offering a Taiwanese black tea - Four Seasons Black.
Autumn – mid-August to mid-October
- Oolong and black teas are made from the autumnal harvest.
- Our exquisite Milky Oolong is harvested during this time.
Winter – mid-October to late March
- A special type of oolong tea is produced in Taiwan after the winter season. With the colder weather, the plants tend to go dormant. However, the plants will bud if there is a period with warm enough temperatures.
- These Dong Pian (winter sprout or winter slice) teas are the sweetest of the year due to the stored carbohydrates. If the weather allows this, the tea will bud from December through January and will be picked before the spring harvest.
Japan also has four harvests, although not all farms take advantage of each harvest. Shaded teas are only produced from the earlier harvests. The second and third flush teas have less umami and other flavors as the days go by. These tend to be used for Ready-To-Drink green tea, genmaicha, hojicha and bancha.
Ichibancha – early to late April to May or early June
- Teas harvested during this time are the most sought-after Japanese teas.
- These include:
- Gyokuro
- Sincha
- The highest grades of Sencha and Matcha
- For some farmers who produce the highest grade Gyokuro, this is the only harvest they will do during the year.
- English Tealeaves carries four beautiful teas from this harvest.
- Sencha Fukamidori
- Sencha Shin-Ryoku – harvested 2-3 weeks prior to Fukamidori
- Matcha Chiyo-no-Shiro
- Gyokuro
Nibancha – starts in June or July
- This harvest produces somewhat lower grades of sencha and culinary grade matcha.
Sanbancha – late summer, from mid-July or August to mid-September
- This harvest is only done in the Southern areas
- Once again, the leaves are destined for the lesser grades of sencha and culinary grade matcha.
Shuutobancha or Harubancha
- This season is for the final pluckings of the tea plant.
- For Shuutobancha, it is done mid-October to mid-November.
- For Harubancha, it is throughout March.
- Farmers choose when to do this and prepare the plants for spring.
The harvest date of any tea plays a significant role in the flavor of the finished brew, and it’s a question a tea drinker may want to ask about any tea of interest. Knowing what to expect from each harvest season is a great way to simplify the search for your perfect tea!