Tea as a Medium, Friends through Tea: 2024 Yongjia Wuniu Early Tea Promotion Conference Convened

"A touch of green in the world, competing to announce the arrival of spring." On the morning of April 3, the 2024 Yongjia Wuniu Early Tea Promotion Conference was held with the theme. Wuniu Early Tea, Shared and Tasted Together." Tea merchants, farmers, and enthusiasts gathered in the pleasant spring scenery to partake in a grand tea culture feast.

Wuniu Early Tea is a specialty of Yongjia County in Zhejiang Province and is recognized as a Chinese National Geographic Indication product with a cultivation history of over 300 years. Known for its early market arrival and superior quality, Wuniu Early Tea features a distinct fresh and fragrant characteristic. The fresh leaves are typically harvested in early February each year, and all teas are pre-Qingming, hitting the market a month earlier than Dongting Biluochun and West Lake Longjing. This gives it the advantage of being the"first cup of new tea to welcome spring," highly appreciated for its novelty.

At the conference, tea artists demonstrated the brewing process of Wuniu Early Tea for the guests and introduced its historical and cultural background. Cup after cup of premium Wuniu Early Tea, once brewed, emanated a refreshing aroma, leaving a sweet and lingering taste, which was the guests' initial impression. Enjoying tea, appreciating tea dances, and watching tea art, the event used tea as a medium to make friends and built a platform for tea culture exchange, as well as an effective channel for tea sales and brand enhancement.

Additionally, the conference held the award ceremony for the fourth Yongjia County Tea Quality Competition"Tea King," where three outstanding tea growers were honored with the title"Master of Yongjia Tea Planting." Pan Yi, one of the awardees, owns a hundred-acre tea garden in Zhangdang Village and enjoys a bountiful annual yield. Initially, noticing that Zhangdang's tea had not developed into a scaled and standardized production, leading to sales stagnation, he took the initiative."I took over the tea garden from other villagers, revamped old trees, cultivated new ones, and planted Wuniu Early and white tea varieties to expand our enterprise and establish our Zhangdang tea brand."

Currently, the planting area of Wuniu Early Tea in Yongjia County has reached over 50,000 acres with a production of 7,000 tons and a spring tea value of 300 million yuan. There are more than 80 tea enterprises of various sizes in the county, with nearly 30,000 people engaged in tea production and sales year-round. In key tea-producing areas of Yongjia County, tea income now accounts for over 70% of agricultural income, making the Wuniu Early Tea industry a gradually developing characteristic leading industry and a wealth-generating industry in Yongjia's agriculture." (ZhongXin)