Spring picking on the tea mountain
Two weeks in Yunnan during the first flush: early mornings, old trees, and why spring leaf is worth the wait.
· 4 min read
The first flush on the old-tree gardens of Yunnan begins in late March, when the nights are still cold and the buds come slowly. That slowness is the point: leaf that grows through cool weather builds up sugars and aromatics that summer leaf never has.
The day starts early
Pickers are on the slopes by six, taking a bud and two leaves by hand. By mid-afternoon the baskets come down to the family’s workshop, where the leaf is spread to wilt on bamboo trays, wok-fired in the evening, rolled by hand and laid out to dry in the next morning’s sun.
Old trees, small lots
Some of the trees we buy from are a few hundred years old and taller than the houses beside them. They give little, so a farm’s whole spring picking from its oldest trees might be thirty kilos. We taste each day’s maocha in the workshop, gongfu-style, and choose the days we want to press.
“The tree decides how much. We only decide whether we were careful.”
Spring teas reach the shop from early summer, in our new arrivals. Read more about how we source.
