In March, Wuyi Mountain is full of spring flowers, and the air is filled with the breath of spring. My family’s annual spring tea production is about to begin.Every year after Jingzhe "惊蛰"which is the 3rd of the 24 solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar, the temperature will warm up, the rain will increase, the plants will start to sprout, and nature will have new vitality. As the temperature rises day by day, the tea leaves will start to sprout soon. Every year around March 15th, we will go to Zhenghe to process white tea (such as Baihao Yinzhen, Baimudan, Shoumei), and Cloud-mist  green tea (the only green tea we process by ourselves), most of these raw materials come from Jinping Village, Lingyao Township, Zhenghe County, Fujian Province, (the fresh  leaves are purchased from my classmate Li Miaomei and her relatives, and then we rent their factory for processing, the processing time is about 10 days

                                        (2015 Spring in Zheng he processin white )

     By the end of March, we began to process Wuyishan black tea, from Jinjunmei to Lapsang Souchong, and then to Tongmu guan old bush Lapsang Souchong . Because of the different maturity time of each variety and the altitude of tea garden, the picking time will be different, but most of my black tea will be processed around April 15th, except for Tongmu guan old bush Lapsang Souchong, which is located at an altitude of more than 1000 meters, so it will not be picked and produced until early May. For black tea and white tea, we pick the most tender single bud or two leaves and one bud for processing, so most of them can be sold directly after processing, and the steps are simpler than oolong tea.

(my husband Zhou shiwu with my father in law in the tea garden)

    Then on April 20th (around Grain Rain), we began to process Wuyi Rock Tea, which is commonly known as Wuyi Oolong Tea, starting with early-growing varieties (such as Huang Guanyin and Yellow  Rose), and then ending with late-growing varieties (such as Baijiguan and Queshe) on May 6th (around long summer). The production time of Fenghuang dancong tea in my husband's hometown in Chaozhou is about early April from early-growing varieties (such as Milanxiang) and then to Picking of late-growing varieties (such as Baxian) ends at the end of April.  Compared with black tea and white tea, the processing of oolong tea will be a little  more complicated. We need to do the sorting of Maocha and roast  it several times. Therefore, the time for oolong tea to go on sale is about August.

           (my husband with my father in law in chaozhou factory )

     The above is the approximate timeline of our family's annual spring tea production. By knowing the production time of each of our tea categories, you will probably know when our new tea will be on sale.

Dancong, one of the famous Oolong tea in China, growing in the Chaozhou city Feng Huang town on Feng Huang Mountain. The most famous growing location of Dancong is Wudong village located about 1200m.T here are many ancient tea gardens there.
                                                                                                   
Chazohou is the birth of the Kongfu cha. All the people there drink tea from old time to now. MY husband told me: They call tea "tea rice 茶米”. It means the tea is as important as rice in their daily life, it is necessary. A family with 3 people, one month at least 500g tea.  Most of the dancong tea from the Phoenix mountain was consumed by local Chaozhou people.

For the tea farmers in Phoenix mountain, they do not so worry about the selling, the well-crafted tea really has a good market now. In China more and more personal drinkers come to farmers directly, most of them would like to spend  300usd  on 500g   good quality tea and do not like pay 300usd on 2kg so so tea.

And the price of dancong goes up sharply .Especially those form Wudong village, the tea price is like the price of Wuyi in zheng yan location and the Puer in Lao banzhang village.

Of course, it does not mean all the tea from the Wudong village is extremely good quality. Sourcing suitable tea is very important. Suitable for your taste, and suitable for your pocket.

Appearance:  Cleanliness & Uniformity:

When you get a tea, check the dry leaves to see if it is clean; without huang-pian or stems left. Normally tea sorted by hands is much cleaner than the machine sorting, and all the leaves are uniform or broken.

Tea Soup: Golden color, Clarity & Brightness:

A well-processed tea always is a very golden color soup, and it is very clear, and the soup is very bright.

Brewed Leaves: “Fat” & Thick, Flexible, & Bright

After you make some infusions later you can check the brewed leaves to see if the leaves are fat and thick, tender or hard, and the color of the leaves is bright or messy.

Aroma: Strong or Weak, Purity, and Duration

When you make the tea, you can get the aroma very quickly: Strong or weak. And meantime, if its aroma is pure, some tea has very high aroma but it is not pure enough. Other tea has very high aroma in the first few infusions but goes down sharply. So you need to check the duration too.

Taste: Full, Strong, & Sweet-Back:

Except for the former 4 points, the key to a cup of tea is the taste. The taste may be full or empty, strong tasting or just so-so, & with a strong Huígān (回甘, sweet-back) or no Huígān.