Tea pickings : great Joy after little stress (I)
When the first signs of spring heralded a rebirth in the plantations, great excitement is perceptible among tea producers. Because, when the tea plants wake up, invigorated by the new season, their new shoots are bursting with aromatic substances.
For the production of green teas, these first shoots are of great interest. Their floral and vegetal aromas are revealed with each inspiration, the high concentration of essential oils makes the liqueur silky, and their tannins are just enough present to support and balance this liqueur.
But, to benefit from all these qualities, the leaves must be harvested at the right time ! The producers are therefore on the alert, watching for the slightest climatic upheavals, regularly analyzing the growth of the tea plants. When the young leaves are finally ready and the conditions are favourable, picking becomes a real race against time. All these leaves must be harvested in just a few days. This is why, during this period, the producers hire a lot of employees. Thousands of pickers then migrate to the tea-producing regions. The first harvest day varies from year to year.
In China, the first pickings generally take place in March, before the Qing Ming festival (“Festival of the Dead”) which is celebrated around April 5th.
In the southern provinces, like Sichuan, picking can begin as early as February.
In Japan, the first tea harvests of the year are called « shincha » ( « xin cha », in Chinese, so the “new tea”. They take place from the end of April, depending on the vagaries of the weather. These new teas, objects of many festivities, are integrated into the important rites that mark the renewal of spring.
These rites reflect the Asian people taste for the freshness and dazzling vegetal expression of their green teas. The spring tea harvest period extends over three or four weeks during which several pickings take place a few days apart. Although those of spring is not necessarily synonymous with quality, in Japan and China the first picking is the most prestigious.
