“In early spring, as the temperature is low, tea trees grow slowly. The green tea produced has a green color and good quality, and over five kilograms of fresh tea leaves can be picked every day,” said a villager, adding that she could earn at least a hundred yuan per day to supplement family income.  

 

Mingqian tea is less susceptible to insect infestation, with tender leaves, good quality, and high price, making it a hard-to-get commodity in the tea market. Fresh tea leaves will be quickly delivered to tea processing plants after being picked by tea farmers. In the tea processing room of the village, workers are busy drying, frying, and kneading the first batch of spring tea leaves this year.

 

 

 

Wang Yiwei, who worked outside a few years ago, returned to his hometown and started his own tea processing factory after seeing the gradual expansion of the tea development scale. He purchases a large amount of fresh leaves from tea farmers every day for processing. 

 

“My own tea leaves of more than 30 mu (2 hectares) are not enough. Every year, I purchase more than 10,000 kilograms of fresh leaves from tea farmers and need to pay them more than 1 million yuan,” said Wang Yiwei.

 

Spring tea is available early but in short supply due to good quality.

 

Zhongjia Village has over 2,400 mu (160 hectares) of tea and more than 20 tea enterprises. It has achieved an annual output value of over 12 million yuan, with a per capita income increase of 12,000 yuan. 

 

“Next, we will promote the integration of tea and tourism, allowing tourists to experience tea picking, frying, and production techniques, making the tea of Zhongjia Village well-known throughout the country, so as to boost villagers’ income,” said Liu Jijun, Party secretary of Zhongjia Village.