Opening ceremony kicks off 2024 early tea harvest
2024-03-03 21:03:15
Translator and English Editor: Chen Zai
Journalist and photographer: Zhang Guorong
On March 2, 2024, the Yichang Tea Group celebrated its Tea Garden Opening Ceremony at their early tea production base in the Three Gorges Dam area.
The event was full of different activities including experts from the Tea Research Institute of Yichang Academy of Agricultural Sciences discussing the unique charm of Yichang's early spring tea, farmers plucking tea buds, and tea masters performing live brewing demonstrations.
Following the opening ceremony, marking the start of the early tea season, the first-harvest tea buds are promptly delivered to the processing plant where they are made into dry tea. From there, they will be transported to the company's tea industrial park for meticulous sorting, fragrance enhancement, and packaging, ensuring a timely distribution and sale in the market.
"This year, tea is growing very well. To meet the Yichang Tea Group's high standards, we are always picking better quality tea. The group pays higher prices for better tea, which has led to an increase in our income!" said a farmer in attendance at the ceremony.
Since the start of the spring, the warm weather and moderate rainfall has created favorable conditions for the growth of tea.
In the year 2023, the tea cultivation area in Yichang reached approximately 1 million mu (66,667 hectares), with an annual output of 110,000 tons of tea, yielding an agricultural revenue of 5.5 billion yuan (US$773.9 million) and a processing revenue of 13.5 billion yuan. This has established tea as one of the pillar industries in Yichang’s agriculture sector.
Yichang is a superb tea-producing region located at the junction of the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the crossroads of the Wuling and Qinba Mountains and the Jianghan Plain. The city enjoys a typical subtropical monsoon climate and sits at an ideal elevation, between 400 to 1,000 meters above sea level, making it an optimal region for tea cultivation and production.
Journalist and photographer: Zhang Guorong
On March 2, 2024, the Yichang Tea Group celebrated its Tea Garden Opening Ceremony at their early tea production base in the Three Gorges Dam area.
The event was full of different activities including experts from the Tea Research Institute of Yichang Academy of Agricultural Sciences discussing the unique charm of Yichang's early spring tea, farmers plucking tea buds, and tea masters performing live brewing demonstrations.
Following the opening ceremony, marking the start of the early tea season, the first-harvest tea buds are promptly delivered to the processing plant where they are made into dry tea. From there, they will be transported to the company's tea industrial park for meticulous sorting, fragrance enhancement, and packaging, ensuring a timely distribution and sale in the market.
"This year, tea is growing very well. To meet the Yichang Tea Group's high standards, we are always picking better quality tea. The group pays higher prices for better tea, which has led to an increase in our income!" said a farmer in attendance at the ceremony.
Since the start of the spring, the warm weather and moderate rainfall has created favorable conditions for the growth of tea.
In the year 2023, the tea cultivation area in Yichang reached approximately 1 million mu (66,667 hectares), with an annual output of 110,000 tons of tea, yielding an agricultural revenue of 5.5 billion yuan (US$773.9 million) and a processing revenue of 13.5 billion yuan. This has established tea as one of the pillar industries in Yichang’s agriculture sector.
Yichang is a superb tea-producing region located at the junction of the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the crossroads of the Wuling and Qinba Mountains and the Jianghan Plain. The city enjoys a typical subtropical monsoon climate and sits at an ideal elevation, between 400 to 1,000 meters above sea level, making it an optimal region for tea cultivation and production.
