How does harvest time matter with tea?
At my regular tea webshop, you can always see what year and month the tea was harvested. Just recently they have brought in this spring's harvest of Darjeeling. But they also have tea from 2011 (in this case a black tea). How does harvest time matter with teas? When is a tea considered "old"? Do they lose flavour when storing for more than two years? Would a more recently harvested tea be considered a better buy or does it depend on taste and type of tea?
Best Answer
Harvest time can have a large effect on the quality of the tea. First off, whether it was the first harvest of the year or a later one will greatly change the character of the tea.
The dates can also be used similar to the vintage dates of wine. If you got a tea from a specific region and know the date of the harvest, if you find another tea from the same region and same date, it will have been grown under similar conditions.
Also, since black and oolong teas have been oxidized, the oxidation process will continue to some extent as the tea ages, further changing the flavor. The date can be used to predict freshness, and also to find a tea that suits your tastes better (for instance, I know that I like many black teas better after they have aged for a year or two).
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Quick Answer about "How does harvest time matter with tea?"
When fresh leaves are harvested, they need to be quickly withered and processed. Any delays from the tea field to the facility will cause unrecoverable loss. Because sun-withering is the best, tea makers generally ends the harvest while there's still enough sunlight to wither the last basket of fresh leaves.What is the harvesting time of tea?
Like Darjeeling teas, Assams are typically harvested from March through to December. Higher quality teas are harvested here during two distinct growth periods, the first and second flush. All other grades of tea are harvested after this period. The first flush begins in March, and the second flush begins in June.Is tea a seasonal crop?
Tea leaves from Assam are collected twice during a season. The first flush is picked during March which is most delicate tea coming out of this region. South India including Nilgiri, Kerala and Karnataka are closer to the equator. There is no winter here, therefore tea plants are harvested throughout the year.What season of tea has the best yield?
Answer: The first flush or the spring flush starts in late March. The second flush occurs during end of May to June. This season produces the best quality tea leaves with gold tips, the raw material for the prized \u201ctippy tea\u201d.In which month tea is sown and harvested?
Name of cropsMonth SownMonth HarvestedWheatOctober, DecemberApril, JuneRiceJune, JulySeptember, OctoberJower and BajraJune, JulySeptember, OctoberHow to Pick Tea | This World: The Tea Trail With Simon Reeve | BBC Studios
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