With the lingering cold rainy days finally gone, 2009 Longjing Tea has come to Hangzhou. Some shops on the historical block Hefang Street have been selling this year’s new tea already.

However, the authentic West Lake Longjing Tea is not ready for harvest yet so where does all the tea come from?

Tea farmers of major plantations of West Lake Longjing Tea also found something quite strange this year - the most popular tea pickers are calling in to ask for jobs. Now why is that?

Meijiawu tea plantations

It finally stopped raining on Mar. 9th, and Hefang Street began to bloom again. Shops with banners stating “2009 New Tea for Sale” attracted a lot of tourists.

“I learned that the West Lake Longjing Tea hasn’t been ready for harvest yet. So what kind of Longjing Tea are you selling?” asked the reporter.

“It is Qiantang Longjing from Fuyang City. Just smell it, it is fragrant too, but much cheaper than the West Lake Longjing Tea. We’ve been selling it for a week.” answered a shop assistant.

The reporter visited the Jiefang Road Tea Market afterwards. However, no shop there was selling 2009 New Tea at all.

“It’s a cold spring this year, so the West Lake Longjing Tea has not been ready for picking yet. The authentic Longjing Tea is definitely not for sale on the market.” said Ms. Zhang, the owner of No. 19 Store in Zone 1 of the market.

“Theoretically the weather in Fuyang City is quite similar as that in Hangzhou, thus the growing and harvest of tea should be close, too.” Ms. Zhang sounded quite skeptical about the so-called Longjing Tea.

Ms. Zhang also pointed out that the first batch of authentic West Lake Longjing Tea will be at least 4,000 yuan per kilo.

The reporter also visited a few major tea plantations in Longjing, Wengjiashan, Manjuelong and Meijiawu etc on the same day. Tea farmers told the reporter that they found something strange this year.

“I have got quite a lot of phone calls from tea pickers asking when we would start picking tea these days. It never happened like that before. In previous years we had to visit them in Quzhou City or Longyou County. Some experienced senior tea pickers were very popular and difficult to get.” said Mr. Tang Zhongming, nicknamed King of Tea Frying in Manjuelong Village.

Mr. Tang also said that he hired 10 or more tea pickers every year and provided them food and accommodation as well as return transportation. The wage was at least 50 yuan a day, and senior tea pickers can earn more.

Mr. Tang commented that it’s probably because of the recession and it’s difficult to find a job.