Tea Weather Update…
I’m writing from Huangshan in Anhui province and the weather here for the last two days has been great, and tea is being harvested now that the weather has warmed again and the sun has broken through. The high-end tea crop was damaged a little bit by the unseasonably warm weather in February followed by a severe cold snap in early March which continued until just yesterday. We had been in Zhejiang province and traveled down here yesterday. We were in Anji over the weekend and the harvest of Anji Baicha had not started, though some Longjing has been harvested in Hangzhou. It was raining when we were there, but that doesn’t stop the Longjing pickers. I expected it to be colder here in Huangshan since we are much higher in the mountains, but the sun broke through, and I will be returning with some very good before Qing Ming tea in my bag when I return the 3rd of April. The bottom line is that the damage was very marginal and the weather has warmed and it looks like it will be a very good year for green tea. The first Huangshan Maofeng was harvested yesterday and it is wonderful, the buds plump and sweet. Although it is early for Tai Ping Hou Kui, we were up on Hou Kai higher up in the Yellow Mountains today, and the crop looks great. We will check out Lui An Gua Pian six hours from here tomorrow.
Austin
