Harvest of prized Longjing tea about to begin, with tenderest leaves picked within two weeks
Hangzhou farmers officially started to pick Longjing tea on March 20, and the tenderest leaves must be collected within two weeks. The peak picking period is anticipated to commence on March 27.
“Last month, the lower than average temperatures and cold waves caused the delay of picking, about one week later than previous years,” explained Shao Jinghua, a tea expert from Hangzhou Agriculture Bureau.
“However, the trees started to sprout from March 2. That means the extreme weather hasn’t impacted the tea too much.”
The first crop of tender leaves comes from Longjing 43, a nationallevel variety that is selected from the vast Longjing production area. The other tea trees will be plucked from March 27.
“In fact, moderate rainfall and favorable weather below 25 degrees Celsius in late February helped the tea trees accumulate nutrients and in return increase the quality of the tea,” Shao added.
Since the Hangzhou West Lake Longjing Tea Protection Regulation came into effect in 2022, management of special identification codes for the tea, including company information, production year, unique serial numbers, and other anticounterfeiting measures have been implemented to protect farmers’ profits.
This spring, local authorities launched new identification codes to replace the previous ones. Local companies, workshops and farmers must apply for identification codes at a set time. They are prohibited from transferring, giving away, or loaning the codes to others. The codes must also be clearly labeled on the tins.
All the applications will be verified through village, town, district and city-level departments in a bid to ensure quality and production volume. After the verification, farmers can get the codes from 43 fixed sites. All units should return the redundant identification codes as soon as they finish packaging.
To protect the authentic Longjing brand and ensure farmers’ profits, all statistics are shared among different authorities on a big data platform, ensuring that every part of the production and sales procedure is under government supervision.
Last year, Hangzhou police cracked 15 counterfeit Longjing tea cases from nine provinces, which caused a sensation in Hangzhou.
“We are having an ad hoc action in tandem with the police, agriculture and logistics departments to protect Longjing tea,” said Lin Xiao, vice director of the Hangzhou Administration for Market Regulation. “All the counterfeit products should be tracked down from the very beginning.”
In addition, the cultivation of young craftspeople is an effective measure to protect the time-honored Longjing tea.
“The West Lake Scenic Area has hosted a tea-frying training project for four consecutive years. Top craftspeople are invited to impart their skills to young trainees. Thus far, over 690 young people have participated, and two of them have already grown into top 10 skilled workers,” said Yu Jinliang, vice dean of the West lake Scenic Area Management Committee.
In 2022, China’s traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices were listed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s intangible cultural heritage list, including West Lake Longjing Tea.
After decades of practice, top-tier specialists have developed a smooth and efficient process for producing Longjing tea, which involves ventilating, drying and screening the tea leaves and pan-frying them for 10 hours before packaging them in tins.
The most important skill that young people will learn is how to fry the tea leaves. The process of frying tea leaves by hand rather than using machines is essential for preserving the natural fragrance of the tea, as hands are more capable of sensing temperature and adjusting the frequency of stirring.
However, the industry has long been dominated by middle-aged and elderly individuals. The limited influx of young people with the necessary skills has impeded the industry’s growth. The training project aims to nurture young successors, infusing fresh vitality into the traditional industry.
Longjing is considered one of the best green teas in China. All the production areas are situated at the hilly area of West Lake Scenic Area, extending to Hupao Pagoda and Maojiabu Village in the east, Yangfu Temple and Longmenkan and Hejia villages in the west, Shejing and Fushan villages in the south; and Laodongyue Temple and Jinyujing Community in the north.