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Weird weather makes tea costly
By Xu Wenwen |
March 25, 2010, Thursday
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CHANGEABLE weather, heavy rain and snow have made Hangzhou's famous Dragon Well (Longjing) tea more costly as the harvest will be smaller.
The prime and costliest Dragon Well tea, known as Mingqian tea, is picked before the Qingming Festival around April 5. Tea picked afterward, though excellent, is priced lower.
But both the tea picked before Qingming and afterward will cost tea lovers more this spring. The old saying goes: "Tea picked before Qingming is treasure, afterward it is grass."
In normal years, local farmers sell Mingqian tea picked before Qingming for around 5,000 yuan (US$732) a kilogram, while teas picked after that day and before Guyu (Grain Rain, one of the 24 solar terms on the lunar calendar, around April 20), which is called Yuqian tea, are sold by farmers for around 1,000 yuan per kilogram. The teas picked later are not as tender as leaves plucked earlier.
This month, the wholesale price of Mingqian tea has reached 6,000 yuan per kilogram because of the short supply. The tea business will lose money this year if cool rainy weather continues. Farmers can only wait for warmer weather in which tea buds sprout before Qingming.
Retail is up to 7,000 yuan per kilogram.
Mingqian Dragon Well tea is considered one of China's top 10 teas and is appreciated for its tender buds and rich fragrance.
"This year's output of Mingqian tea will be reduced by at least one third," says Sheng Yaoming, a 59-year-old tea farmer in Dragon Well Village, who is known as Zhejiang Province's "King of Stir-drying Tea."
As a rule, Mingqian tea is rare as the temperature before Qingming is generally low, so the buds grow slowly and the quantity reaching picking standard is limited.
The bad weather this year makes Mingqian tea even rarer.
The snow early this month covered tea bushes, and the drop in temperature frosted the tea trees. High winds and nonstop rains battered bushes and buds. The temperature swings hurt the growth.
On Monday Sheng picked tea buds in his 1,300-square-meter garden, but only got 50 grams of dried tea after processing, only one-fifth of the output for one day last year.
As tea buds haven't sprouted, there's no point for Dragon Well villagers to go to the tea slopes. Instead they stand around and chat, do household chores and show tourists around.
Dragon Well tea is one of the most famous and expensive of all Chinese teas, with a history going back 1,200 years. It is planted in Hangzho and two other cities in Zhejiang Province, but Dragon Well tea from the West Lake area is recognized as the best.
In the old days, people graded Dragon Well tea leaves according to the plantation. The top five plantations in Hangzhou are: Lion (Lion Hill/Shifeng); Dragon (Dragon Well/Longjing); Cloud (Cloud Rest/Yunxi); Tiger (Tiger Running/Hupao); and Peach Blossom (Meijiawu). Meijiawu Village is much younger than the other four, but has made a lot of progress since the early 20th century.
The prime and costliest Dragon Well tea, known as Mingqian tea, is picked before the Qingming Festival around April 5. Tea picked afterward, though excellent, is priced lower.
But both the tea picked before Qingming and afterward will cost tea lovers more this spring. The old saying goes: "Tea picked before Qingming is treasure, afterward it is grass."
In normal years, local farmers sell Mingqian tea picked before Qingming for around 5,000 yuan (US$732) a kilogram, while teas picked after that day and before Guyu (Grain Rain, one of the 24 solar terms on the lunar calendar, around April 20), which is called Yuqian tea, are sold by farmers for around 1,000 yuan per kilogram. The teas picked later are not as tender as leaves plucked earlier.
This month, the wholesale price of Mingqian tea has reached 6,000 yuan per kilogram because of the short supply. The tea business will lose money this year if cool rainy weather continues. Farmers can only wait for warmer weather in which tea buds sprout before Qingming.
Retail is up to 7,000 yuan per kilogram.
Mingqian Dragon Well tea is considered one of China's top 10 teas and is appreciated for its tender buds and rich fragrance.
"This year's output of Mingqian tea will be reduced by at least one third," says Sheng Yaoming, a 59-year-old tea farmer in Dragon Well Village, who is known as Zhejiang Province's "King of Stir-drying Tea."
As a rule, Mingqian tea is rare as the temperature before Qingming is generally low, so the buds grow slowly and the quantity reaching picking standard is limited.
The bad weather this year makes Mingqian tea even rarer.
The snow early this month covered tea bushes, and the drop in temperature frosted the tea trees. High winds and nonstop rains battered bushes and buds. The temperature swings hurt the growth.
On Monday Sheng picked tea buds in his 1,300-square-meter garden, but only got 50 grams of dried tea after processing, only one-fifth of the output for one day last year.
As tea buds haven't sprouted, there's no point for Dragon Well villagers to go to the tea slopes. Instead they stand around and chat, do household chores and show tourists around.
Dragon Well tea is one of the most famous and expensive of all Chinese teas, with a history going back 1,200 years. It is planted in Hangzho and two other cities in Zhejiang Province, but Dragon Well tea from the West Lake area is recognized as the best.
In the old days, people graded Dragon Well tea leaves according to the plantation. The top five plantations in Hangzhou are: Lion (Lion Hill/Shifeng); Dragon (Dragon Well/Longjing); Cloud (Cloud Rest/Yunxi); Tiger (Tiger Running/Hupao); and Peach Blossom (Meijiawu). Meijiawu Village is much younger than the other four, but has made a lot of progress since the early 20th century.
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