Tea, in all its diverse forms, is a comforting companion to many of us throughout the year. But did you know that tea, much like the seasons themselves, has its own natural rhythm and cycle? Just as we anticipate the blossoms of spring or the warm embrace of summer, tea also follows a seasonal journey that brings unique flavours and characteristics.
Let us take you through the four seasons of tea, exploring the distinct qualities that each season brings to your cup, and how to choose the perfect tea for every time of year.
Teas for Spring
Spring buds are the most highly prized because they contain all the flavour and nutrients stored over Winter, making them succulent, richly textured, and particularly aromatic.
Here are some popular teas to enjoy throughout the spring:
Organic Dragon Well Tea
The Organic Dragon Well tea is China's most famous green tea and one of its most prized. Dragon Well tea should be smooth and creamy with a characteristic sweet hazelnut flavour. A cup of Dragon Well will have a refreshingly grassy quality that perfectly reflects the spring season.
Organic Darjeeling 1st Flush Supreme
Darjeeling is in the foothills of the Himalayas, so the tea bushes have very cool and long winters. This tea contains all of the nutrients and energy, offering something unique amongst Indian teas. Darjeeling 1st Flush is known for its crisp and quenching flavour with prominent notes of grape and hay—an embodiment of Darjeeling's green and luscious hills in the crisp springtime.
Silver Needle White Tea
Silver Needle is made from the young buds of the tea plant as they begin to flourish in early Spring. Therefore, this is considered the highest grade of white tea. Silver Needle has the purest notes of refreshing cucumbers and sweet melon, and has a smooth and syrupy infusion.
Organic Sencha
Sencha is Japan's most popular style of green tea. The leaves are usually picked using hot steam to halt any natural oxidation, maintaining a rich green colour in the leaves. This also gives the tea a flavourful umami taste, which Japanese green tea is known for. With Sencha, you can expect plenty of sweetness and a refreshing green taste from the verdant leaves, balanced by a rich umami and a satisfying, thick texture.
Organic Jade Sword
Organic Jade Sword tea is full of sweetness, from the tender buds, and delicate, from the young green leaves. Capturing the bright and alluring freshness of Spring, its processing method gives the tea a smooth profile without bitterness.
Teas for Summer
The hot summer sun arrives in the tea gardens in early June, encouraging the bushes to grow fast and changing their flavour. The flavours change because the plant starts to produce compounds that will protect the leaves from insects, the sun's heat, and UV rays. Summer picking is preferred for making teas with more assertive, more robust flavours.
Assam Breakfast
Assam Breakfast tea is known for its rich, malty and dried fruit flavours. This comes from the second-flush of tea buds and leaves that are captured throughout Summer, leaving the leaves with a golden-tipped appearance.
Organic Darjeeling 2nd Flush
Within the second-flush of Darjeeling tea, the leaves picked during this time are used to make a much more traditional black tea. Once picked, the leaves are rolled to induce oxidation and produce a traditional black tea with depth and richness while maintaining Darjeeling's crisp and refreshing character.
Teas for Autumn
Tea plants often experience a late seasonal flush in the Autumn, around September to October. This season tends to produce thicker, stronger leaves that are full of aromatic oils and can be much heartier than fresh spring flourishes. Autumn is an important season for both oolong and puerh production.
Cooked Puerh Mini Cakes
This compressed tea is a Yunnan speciality and is produced most often in either Spring or Autumn. This tea is fermented in a 'wet piling' process for about a month to induce a very rich and earthy flavour. This is also referred to as 'ripe' or 'cooked' puerh and is often found in shape for storage, such as these mini 'tuo' cakes. These mini cakes produce a warm and nourishing infusion with a supple and velvety texture full of incense woods, earthiness and a light fruit finish.
Ali Shan
With Ali Shan oolong, you can expect a plentiful aroma of fresh, baked cream with lots of fruity hints. The flavour of the infusion offers a reviving lift with notes of baked cream, strawberry and pear.
Teas for Winter
In Winter, the temperatures can drop dramatically, so the tea bushes in most places prepare for their dormancy. However, in more tropical origins, such as Sri Lanka and Taiwan, the maintained weather means that plants can continue to sprout even in the Winter. The significant temperature differences between day and night mean the tea leaves get a good balance of nourishing sun and cooling night, helping them produce a balanced growth and flavour.
Ceylon Breakfast
This breakfast blend showcases the high-quality tea leaves from the tropical regions of Ruhuna and Dimbula. It is known for its rich, malty base and deep colour, while gardens at the heights of Dimbula produce tea with fragrant aromatics and refined structure. Together, they create an outstanding breakfast infusion suitable for any time of year, with a lively and rich flavour, hints of sweet citrus and a smooth texture.
Teas Which Cross the Seasonal Boundaries:
Some teas undergo extended processes to ensure quality and authenticity in taste. This means the fresh tea leaves might be picked and partially processed during the Spring to ensure the perfect start, then finished later in the year as the seasonal shifts allow time to create the final flavour.
Organic Wuyi Oolong
Oolongs from the Wuyi mountains are typically roasted either with charcoal or an electric oven multiple times over a period of months. This deepens the taste and creates a complex tea, accentuating the flavour of the mineral-rich and rocky terroir and producing notes ranging from floral to cacao and dried fruits. However, it takes time for these flavours to develop and for the roast to calm, which could be several months after the initial processing.
Jasmine Silver Needle and Jasmine Pearls
The base for these scented teas is processed during the Spring, with the fresh buds of the silver needle being crafted in Yunnan, and the bud and young leaves used for the green pearls are produced in Fujian. The result is a sweet, floral, syrupy and unmistakable authentic flavour that is perfect in hotter weather.
Gyokuro
This green tea undergoes a traditional shading process lasting 30 days. As the weather begins to warm up, the plants are covered with a canopy to block out the sunlight, which causes the tea plants to struggle while sprouting their new leaves. In doing so, they produce less bitter tannins and retain more of the amino acid L-Theanine, creating a thick, smooth, sweet infusion that transforms into an unforgettably rich umami finish.
Summary
As you journey through the seasons with tea, you'll discover that each cup has a story to tell - a reflection of the environment in which it was grown, the time it was harvested, and the care taken in its processing. Whether you're enjoying the fresh flavours of spring, the bold characters of summer, the warming notes of autumn, or the soothing brews of winter, there's a tea perfectly suited to every moment and mood.