The best time for tea picking

In most tea producing areas, the growth of tea trees and tea harvesting are seasonal. Usually, according to the harvesting time, tea is divided into three seasons: spring, summer, and autumn, with a few also having winter tea. In the process of procurement, the combination of timing, location, and people is emphasized. In the process of tea picking, relying solely on geographical advantages and human cooperation, without the coordination of timing, not only will the tea yield decrease, but the tea quality will also be affected.

The best time for tea picking

1.The most suitable tea picking season

Due to abundant rainfall, mild temperatures, and a winter of dormancy, tea trees accumulate abundant nutrients in their roots, resulting in particularly vigorous growth in spring. The spring shoots, buds, and leaves are thick, green in color, soft in texture, and have many fine hairs on young buds and leaves. The active ingredients related to tea quality, such as amino acids, soluble pectin, vitamin C, and aromatic oils, are enriched, which not only make the tea taste rich and delicious, with a strong aroma, but also have better health benefits. Therefore, spring tea, especially early spring tea, is often the best time of the year for tea quality and optimal harvesting.

However, in terms of tea types, such as black tea, the best picking time is in summer. Due to the increase in tea polyphenol content in tea trees during summer, it is beneficial for the fermentation of black tea, forming more tea red and tea yellow pigments, making the dry tea and tea soup of black tea more red and bright in color, and the taste more stimulating.

2.The most suitable time for tea picking

The best time to pick tea in a day is after 7am and before 1am. If there are trees in the tea garden that can block the sunlight, it can also be done between 1pm and 4pm in the afternoon.

Overall, the timing of tea picking varies depending on the region and variety of tea production. Most tea regions in our country have clear seasonal boundaries. Generally, tea leaves harvested and made from March to May each year are called spring tea.
Generally, tea harvested from June to July is summer tea. Due to the high temperature in summer, it is beneficial for the synthesis and accumulation of tea polyphenols. The tea leaves have a strong bitter taste and are suitable for making finished black tea.

Generally, the tea leaves harvested from August to September each year are autumn tea. Due to the refreshing autumn weather, it is beneficial for the synthesis and accumulation of aromatic substances in tea leaves. Therefore, autumn tea has a seasonal high aroma, and some teas have good quality. However, summer tea has a higher pesticide residue due to the application of pesticides for pest control; After being harvested twice in spring and summer, autumn tea is relatively coarse and aged, and the content of some nutrients is significantly reduced. Therefore, in terms of tea quality and pesticide residue levels, generally summer and autumn tea are not as good as spring tea.

So, the best time to pick tea throughout the year is in spring, and it is best to pick tea from early morning to early morning every day.

Tea picking technology

1. Graded picking

According to market demand and product processing needs, implementing scientific graded picking is beneficial for greatly improving the quality of fresh leaves and forming high-quality and cost-effective products. It is also conducive to promoting the development of tea garden production towards high-quality and efficient direction, as well as the graded processing and product quality improvement of different tea products. Harvesting fresh leaves in stages, batches, and grades is an important technical measure for tea picking. At the same time, it is necessary to strictly prohibit the picking habits of “not distinguishing between large and small, old and tender, and grasping hair and beard at once”.

2. Timely picking

The agricultural proverb goes, ‘Picking tea three days early is a treasure, and picking tea three days late is grass.’ The fact tells us that tea must be picked in a timely manner. Only by picking fresh leaves in a timely manner can we ensure obtaining high-quality fresh leaves and processing high-quality products; Only by promoting the germination of subsequent batches of tea as soon as possible, shortening the interval period, greatly increasing the number of picking rounds, can we achieve the effect of increasing production and income; Timely tea picking not only ensures the quality and yield of fresh leaves, but also benefits in controlling the spread of pests and diseases in tea gardens and promoting the cultivation of high-quality and high-yield tree crowns. It is strictly prohibited to use improper picking methods such as “vigorous harvesting, slight dragging of buds, and harvesting of aged tea”.

3. Leaf picking

Tea trees are evergreen plants that shed their leaves alternately every other year. Therefore, proper harvesting and preservation of fresh leaves are the key to ensuring the sustainable and long-term growth, high-quality and abundant harvest of tea trees. Under normal management conditions, tea gardens should adhere to the principle of “leaving fish leaves for spring tea harvesting, alternating and balancing a suitable amount of leaves for summer and autumn tea harvesting, and ensuring a leaf area index of 4.0 at all times.” Predatory “harvesting or excessive leaf retention are not conducive to tea production and development.

On the basis of grasping the above three items, we should adhere to the principle of “picking high and leaving bottom, picking large and leaving small, picking top and leaving edge, net picking split leaves, sandwich leaves, and fine and weak bud leaves”, and comprehensively do a good job in picking each batch of tea leaves.