Fall picked teas vs spring teas
I have a question about spring vs fall tea. Assuming that there is a black tea that is buds only (or mostly buds) and picked in fall (mid-October), is it by necessity worse than the same varietal tea (also mostly/all buds) picked in spring and put through the same processes?
Thanks for your help!
It could potentially be better! There are a lot of variables involved in whether a harvest is good or not. The proof is in the pudding (or in the pot, in this case)!
So as long as they’re buds or young leaves, there is no inherent negative quality implications? I’ve tasted a quite good fall jin jun mei but was hesitating due to my (probably incorrect) perception that it wouldn’t be as good as the same tea picked in spring. I’m just starting to get into black teas.
Spring tea tends to be more aromatic, but good autumn tea can definitely be better than spring tea in some years and from some estates. That goes for all leaf sizes and all types of teas
A lot of things can affect the quality and the overall judgement is subjective. If price is an indicator, Spring tea will at least cost more, for whatever that’s worth.
Other things to consider would be where is it from, and when does that region’s wet season end? Probably close to fall harvest. Even if it’s a fairly wet spring harvest, the tea most likely (hopefully) had the winter to store energy and will have much more depth and complexity than a fall tea, which has had more rain and probably less rest before being picked. For these reasons fall teas tends to be more immediately fragrant and sweeter, but less enduring and less complex.
Exactly this^ As a huge fan of complexity, I rarely find an autumn harvest black that I love, and will 95% of the time choose a spring harvest over autumn for a specific black tea. Autumn harvest can lend very well to blends though, especially if you are trying to push a specific non-tea ingredient to the foreground. That and the lower price of autumn leads me to believe that the majority of flavored black teas probably use autumn material. It can also be a lot of personal preference. I have a few customers that I custom order autumn teas for because they enjoy a big mug of smooth, easy going black, and lack of complexity makes that happen. :-)
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