Of Typhoons And Tea: How is the Winter Picking season shaping up?

This year’s winter pick is turning into a roller coaster of a year and it is not looking good for teas being picked in November. While the start of the season began with some stellar weather for the higher elevation teas, a couple late season typhoons have dropped a lot of rain on our beautiful island, potentially washing out some of the later teas of the season.

Starting in mid October and ending around the beginning of December, winter picked tea can be some of the most geographically varied when it comes to quality. The weather really matters for good winter picked tea and the overall taste can be much more varied from year to year.

The picking of winter teas in Taiwan follow the opposite picking order of Spring tea, namely the higher teas get picked first and the picking then moves to lower elevations. Lishan(Pear Mountain) starts off the winter season by making tea in mid October followed shortly after by Chi Lai in late October or so, then comes Alishan in mid November and finally the lower elevations that finish up by mid December.

(Exceptions are the bug bitten teas, and they get picked whenever the bug bites and weather create the right conditions to make a picking worthwhile. This happens at any time of the year, but usually in late September, mid October and mid December are common picking times depending on the area.)

This year’s first winter picked teas, the Winter Pear and Alpine Winter, are great teas. The Winter Pear being much better than last year for example. We are holding our breath for the Alishan and Jade Mountain teas. With a couple last season typhoons and seasonal northern winds, huge amounts of rain have hit the mountains and tea growing regions of Taiwan.

The impact of bad weather on the taste of tea comes in two main areas. More rain means more water which means more growth which means less ‘stuff’ in each leaf. Too much rain can ‘water down’ the taste of a tea, making it less dramatic, lacking the sharp floral kick that winter oolongs can so often provide. The second problem is the processing. If leaves are full of water, or heaven forbid wet when they arrive for the withering phase, too much water will be left in the leaves at the start of rolling causing the finished to become bitter. Bad weather during picking can actually ruin an otherwise perfectly grown picking.

So what does this mean for the teas being picked right now? We won’t know until we try them, but it isn’t looking too good for the mid altitude teas like Jade Mountain, Alishan and Shanlinxi. There is nothing much we can do but wait and hope for the best. At least we have some great Pear and Alpine Winter oolongs to tie us by until the samples start rolling in.