Learn Chinese tea

Reading the tea year#

The solar terms give the tea year a shared language. To understand a particular harvest, read that calendar together with the place, plant and intended tea.

1. A solar calendar within a lunisolar calendar

   Each term begins when the Sun reaches another 15° of ecliptic longitude. The sequence follows the solar year, not the phases of the Moon. Its dates stay near the same Gregorian dates but vary by year; the local date can also differ with the time zone. Qingming is near 5 April, Guyu near 20 April.

   Hong Kong Observatory

2. One calendar, many local seasons

   The tradition developed in the Yellow River region and spread more widely. Names such as Frost’s Descent do not forecast frost in every tea garden. Elevation matters too: Taiwan’s July 2023 extension bulletin described different growth and picking stages in high- and low-elevation gardens. A regional calendar needs local interpretation.

   UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Tea and Beverage Research Station

3. The cultivar and the year change the timing

   For West Lake Longjing in 2025, Hangzhou announced 20 March for Longjing 43 and late March for the seed-grown population. These were that year’s local dates, not permanent deadlines. A southern Zhejiang study covering 2001–2014 also linked first-picking dates to cultivar and winter temperatures. Cold spells, frost and rainfall complicate a simple annual timetable.

   Hangzhou Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology Chinese Journal of Agrometeorology

4. Mingqian and yuqian describe timing

   Mingqian means before Qingming; yuqian means before Guyu and, when contrasted with mingqian, commonly refers to the interval after Qingming. Neither label is a quality grade. An early date alone cannot establish origin, skilled manufacture or a flavour you will prefer. Compare similar teas and ask for the actual picking period.

   CAAS Tea Research Institute / Guangming Daily East China Normal University / The Paper

5. Ready for which tea?

   Different teas need different shoot maturity. Taiwan’s hand-picking specifications distinguish tender material for green tea and Oriental Beauty from more developed shoots for several other oolongs. Summer also has a purpose: TBRS links summer leafhopper activity with Oriental Beauty production in northern Taiwan. A calendar that ranks every tea by earliest spring picking misses these differences.

   Tea and Beverage Research Station Tea and Beverage Research Station

6. Read the rings as orientation

   This wheel uses approximate recurring term dates and illustrative seasonal windows, not year-specific astronomical times or live harvest reports. Its charcoal-roasting band shows processing, not picking. It does not show every harvest or every region. The marker locates today on this schematic; it cannot tell whether a particular garden is ready or a tea is already on sale.

For a particular lot, ask where it grew, which cultivar or seed population supplied the leaf, when it was picked, and whether any later date means manufacture, roasting or release.

What is picked?#

Harvest dates are only one part of the decision. Shoot maturity also varies with the intended tea. These schematic examples follow TBRS’s 2020 Taiwan hand-picking table; they are not a universal ranking of quality.

1. One bud and one or two leaves

   The table gives this tender material for Taiwanese green tea and for Oriental Beauty. For Oriental Beauty it additionally specifies shoots fed on by the small green leafhopper.

2. One bud and two or three leaves

   Strip Baozhong, high-mountain tea and Dong Ding use more developed material in the same table.

3. Two or three leaves on a resting shoot

   The same oolong specifications also allow duikou shoots: the terminal bud has stopped extending. A resting shoot is not the same thing as a broken-off bud.