Hello everyone,
I am Andy, a tea enthusiast.
Taiwanese tea has four harvesting seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
A tea tree can be harvested up to seven times a year, not just four times.
▋How is it possible to harvest tea trees seven times a year?
A single leaf takes about seven days to grow.
Once there are seven leaves, the top bud and leaves can be harvested.
Therefore, 7x7=49, meaning one tea leaf picking cycle is 49 days.
In a year with 365 days, 365/49=7.4, giving us seven picking cycles per year.
The growth time of leaves can vary slightly with the environment,
but the difference is not significant.
▋Why can tea be harvested when it grows seven leaves?
This relates to the genetics of the tea tree.
The number of leaves is determined at the bud stage, known as leaf primordia.
By dissecting the leaf primordia, it can be found that there are seven growth points.
When the tea tree starts growing, the number of leaves is already fixed.
Only the internode length (the distance between leaves) changes with the weather.
This is why spring tea grows faster and has longer stems due to higher temperatures,
and winter tea grows slower with shorter stems due to lower temperatures.
This is the theory, but as winters get warmer,
it is not always possible to determine the harvesting season by the length of the stems.
During droughts, water can affect the distribution of auxin,
and tea leaves might grow with fewer than seven leaves.
▋A tea bud does not grow indefinitely.
If you don't look closely, it might seem like a tea bud can grow indefinitely.
However, after about seven leaves,
new growth begins from the axillary buds located at
the junction of the leaves and the stem,
like a relay race, so a bud does not grow indefinitely.
▋What happens if a tea tree is harvested seven times a year?
The lifespan of the tea tree will be shortened,
and the yield of tea leaves will decrease.
In a few years, the tea tree will need to be cut back deeply or replanted.
If well-maintained, a tea tree can live for over a hundred years.
▋Why are some teas harvested only three or even two times a year?
To conserve the tea tree's energy,
each harvest causes some damage to the plant.
Giving the tea tree proper rest will extend its lifespan,
and the quality of the tea will be better.
That’s all for today,
I hope this information is helpful to you.
See you next time.
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