Tea production in Zhejiang province

Zhejiang is a famous tea producing province and central of Chinese teaindustry, also known as a birth place of Rikuha, a master of tea. Several major tea museums and tea institutes are also located in this province. Total size of tea fields in Zhejiang is approximately 1,430,000 hectare( 3times more than Japan),and 120,000 tons teas are produced there. Among them 85% are green tea (roasted method), and other 15% are black tea and oolong tea. Tea harvest is usually done from late March to middle of October. Teas are picked usually by hands, and only 10% are picked by machine. Tea pickers pick tea 2-3 days, then stop for 2-3 days, and this routine continues until the last day of picking. Now limited amount of Japanese type green teas (steamed process tea) are also produced in China for the purpose of exporting to Japan. Since producing this type of tea in China requires especially high skill, knowledge of quality assurance on taste and aroma, and lot of investment for purchasing special kind of tea processing machine, thus rapid growth in this field can not be expected. In China, along their rapid economic growth, tea culture in their country is changing in fast pace. More people prefer to drink fine quality tea. In the big cities, PET bottled tea or can tea are becoming popular among the young people. However, once you enter small tea shops, you will see large choices of different kind of tea sold by weight just like the old time. It is exciting just to think where each tea is from, and how they are drank in different way. It makes me realize that really China is the home land of tea, and they have rich and long histories of tea. At the same time, I realize how small the varieties of tea we have in Japan, especially if I compare that to China. Zhejian province in China is the home land of producing world-famous tea "Longjing". Longjing tea are flatly shaped, and they are usually served in the transparent glass. When the water is added into the glass, the leaves start to expand as they soak the water, and water color changes to emerald green. Soft taste and extensive earthy aroma are one of the characteristics of this tea. Longjing tea has been a long-time favorite for many people in China and outside of China. Longjing tea grow in the mountain area around the East lake of Hangzhou. Total production amount of Longjing tea is only 500 tons a year. Picking and the processing are all done by hands, which makes the expansion of the farm difficult. Therefore, each tea farm is kept in small size (20-30 acar). Contrary to the size of the field, the farmers seem to maintain their profit in stable point. One reason is perhaps the prestigious brand effect of Longjing tea, and another is because the total production is so small, many people come to purchase tea directly from the farmers . Longjing tea has been used as a very special gift for long time, and now using Longjing tea as gift is becoming even more in trend in China. There are so much potentialities and things to learn from the farmers on their management strategy of Longjingtea for Japanese small-scale tea farmers. China is promoting for increasing domestic consumption of tea by teaching people the health benefit of drinking tea. Some school teach children the art of Chinese tea ceremony as their cultural experiences. China encourage youngsters to get to know more about tea and develop the tea drinking habits, which eventually to lead the growth of domestic tea consumption in China.