When does tea harvesting start in China? Japan?

[heatwaves]

Usually it starts right after the buds break on the plants. Depending on the climatic changes on the season, this could range from early March to Late April. Typically, the tea doesn't make it to the US until Late May/early June, unless companies air freight smaller quantities.

[Chip]

...buying direct from China or Japan certainly moves the date up...I look forward to getting my first spring orders in April...

[Salsero]

"Tea from Taiwan" claims they start selling spring tea about mid march. But they're pretty expensive, and I haven't tasted anything of theirs.

[Chip]

I'm assuming the tea plant is a deciduous shrub. How does it ever get any size if it is picked as soon as it starts to bud? Would like to see the plant close up!!
I've seen the pictures in the book by Adagio Tea but couldn't be sure of the looks of the leaves.

Camelia sinensis, the tea plant, is a broadleaf evergreen. There are tons of phots of the plant on line...just google...but here is one nice very close up photo...after opening the link, click on the close up photo. Many vendors have nice photos.

http://www.teaspring.com/moreviews.asp? ... +Long+Jing

[Salsero]

They only harvest a small number of the leaves. Sometimes just the growth tip and the first one or two leaves are plucked. The vast majority of leaves remain, processing sunlight and feeding the plant.

[Zanato]

Hello Zanato,

Thank you for your note. Teas are usually good for about 1 year. The next
harvest of teas will be available to us, as well as to many other tea
vendors, sometime in June or July of this year. We hope this information
helps, and thank you for visiting Adagio Teas!

Kind regards,

Customer Service
http://www.adagio.com