Text and Photography by Bruce Richardson

Spring is an exciting time to visit tea gardens worldwide as hillside fields burst into vibrant shades of emerald green. Throughout the winter, tea bushes go dormant to save energy, but once the warmer temperatures of spring arrive, the sun’s rays slowly coax the plants to expend their stored energy into producing new buds.

I witnessed this colorful display last April when my staff and I visited tea gardens in Japan during the first days of the new harvest. The supple new stems and leaves rippled as warm breezes swept across the hillside rows. Spring harvest teas can produce flavors unique to the season that often command high demand and prices.

One of the teas unique to that part of the world is Shincha, the first flush or ichibancha (first tea) picked in late April and early May. These tender leaves contain high levels of the amino acid L-theanine, and the light liquor has a soft mouthfeel accompanied by notes of umami. These fresh and delicate teas should be made and consumed as close to harvest as possible because they contain the flavors of spring and do not keep well because the leaves have a high moisture content.

We also peeked under the matting covering shadegrown leaves that eventually became Gyokuro. Additional shade-grown leaves will be hand-harvested, steamed, cooled, dried, and stored in refrigerated coolers until they are needed for Matcha production. After removing the stems, the leaves will be slowly ground into an emerald-green powder.

Other Asian countries tout their spring harvest as well. Darjeeling is home to 88 gardens in India’s foothills of the Himalayas. Only tea grown in this region can bear the trademarked name “Darjeeling.” These legendary high-altitude gardens can be frigid and covered with snow in the winter. But as the first rays of spring sunshine appear over the mountain peaks in mid-February, the sleeping tea bushes awake. The famous First Flush Darjeelings will be offered to buyers worldwide by mid-March.

These early teas are less oxidized and are baked at a lower temperature, which leads to the retention of some green tea notes and a light muscatel aroma. First Flush Darjeelings often command record prices, especially from buyers in Germany and Japan.

A few hundred miles to the east, the first flush of new growth appears on Assam bushes in late March. These green leaves will be heavily oxidized and manufactured into black teas that can still be slightly grassy and astringent. Consequently, these early spring teas are often blended for the tea bag market, and most will eventually be consumed with a splash of milk. Savvy tea drinkers know to wait until late May and June when the bushes flush with new leaves for the second time. Second Flush single-estate Assam teas can be delicious with or without the addition of milk. They have been my morning cup of tea for over a decade.

China has been producing tea longer than any other country, and its spring season is divided into four parts. The earliest harvest is known as Pre-Qing Ming, using leaves plucked before the Qing Ming Festival (Sweeping of the Tombs) around the 5th of April. The most legendary first-harvest green tea comes from the West Lake village of Longjing, outside Hangzhou. These tiny leaves are pressed by hand in large woks, which makes them flat and shiny. When steeped multiple times in warm water, they release a delicate aroma instantly recognized by discriminating tea consumers. Unlike Indian tea gardens, the Longjing fields will be plucked only in early spring, and the bushes will remain untouched for the rest of the year.

Taiwan is known for its remarkable spring harvest oolongs, including Dong Ding and Alishan from lower altitudes. Their new buds have a higher vitamin and sugar content than other seasons. The storage of these nutrients benefits the synthesis and accumulation of aromatic compounds. Because of this, Taiwanese spring teas have a distinct and intense fragrance that is slowly released through multiple infusions.

Contributing editor Bruce Richardson is the Master Tea Blender at Elmwood Inn Fine Teas and co-author of The New Tea Companion and A Social History of Tea, available at elmwoodinn.com.