Dry weather in one of Taiwan’s favorite tea-growing regions has seen tea bushes yielding much less than usual. However, the dry weather is also helping to greatly boost the quality of what tea is growing there, reminding people of what makes the area’s tea great to begin with.
Sometimes, less is more. That’s at least the case in the tea-growing hills of Hsinchu County’s Emei Township. Here, a long dry spell means that tea bushes are producing 20-30% fewer tea leaves this season than they normally do.
But the lack of rain has had another, beneficial effect that will ensure the leaves that make it through are of top quality.
The tea jassid (scientific name Jacobiasca formosana) is an insect that loves to chew on tea leaves but hates wet weather. With no rain to scare them off, swarms have been gathering in Emei Township’s tea plantations.
While insects that chew on crops are normally a farmers’ greatest enemy, in these tea plantations, they are the key to a successful harvest. That’s because tea leaves bitten by this insect undergo a chemical change that makes them widely sought after.
Only these leaves can be made into the prized “Oriental Beauty Tea”. So while farmers may have fewer tea leaves to sell, what they do have is sure to be appreciated and may even fetch a higher price.