Early picking of green tea begins in Guizhou

The first harvest of Guizhou green tea begins in Puan and Liupanshui. [Photo/ddcpc website]

The National Spring Tea Conference and the First Harvest of "Guizhou Green Tea" in 2025 were launched in Puan county and Liupanshui city in Southwest China's Guizhou province on Jan 1.

Guizhou's unique ecological environment, along with its suitable climate, is what gives its green tea exceptional quality, and the early harvesting period is one of its significant advantages.

Puan, known as the permanent first harvest area for Guizhou's green tea, enjoys natural climate advantages such as high altitude, low latitude, and frequent clouds and mist, making it a prime location for growing tea trees.

Puan tea is not only harvested early, but also boasts excellent quality. On Feb 19, 2024, the national early tea trading market was launched in Puan, with the transaction value on the opening day exceeding 1.6 million yuan ($219,202).

In 2024, Puan's early tea trading volume reached 380 million yuan, with 183,000 mu (12,200 hectares) of tea gardens producing over 9,700 metric tons of dry tea, valued at over 1.3 billion yuan.

The total industry output value exceeded 1.8 billion yuan, benefiting 18,000 households and over 70,000 people, with an average household income increase of over 17,000 yuan.

Shuicheng district in Liupanshui city is also a core region for early spring tea in China. The unique geographic and climatic conditions of Shuicheng make it ideal for the early, ancient, organic, and aromatic spring tea grown there. Shuicheng's spring tea is harvested 15 to 20 days earlier than in other regions.

In 2024, the tea planting area in Shuicheng reached 100,200 mu, benefiting over 40,000 tea farmers. The tea output reached about 200 tons, with an industry value of 200 million yuan.