What kind of tea is Pingyang Tezao Tea? An introduction to its variety characteristics

Small tree type, medium-leaf class, extremely early-sprouting variety. It was bred by the Pingyang County Agriculture Bureau of Zhejiang Province from the population variety of Daping Village, Aojiang Town in that county, using the single-plant breeding method. In 1998 it was recognized as a Zhejiang Province tea tree variety. It has been introduced in small amounts to other tea areas within the province and to places such as Anhui. The main characteristics of this variety are:

(1) The plant is medium-sized, with a semi-open tree posture, relatively dense branching, and leaves growing in an upward-slanting arrangement. The leaves are elliptical, 6.5-8.9 cm long and 3.1-4.0 cm wide, dark green in color, glossy, with a slightly raised leaf surface, the leaf body somewhat folded inward, and the leaf texture thick and soft. The buds and leaves are green with relatively abundant fine hairs, and the internodes are short. The weight of 100 buds with three leaves per bud is 39.8 g. No flower buds have been observed either in the place of origin or in places where it has been introduced.

(2) The buds and leaves grow uniformly and retain tenderness strongly, and the spring tea sprouts extremely early. In the place of origin it generally sprouts in mid-January, reaches the initial unfolding of one bud and one leaf from late February to early March, and reaches the full stage of one bud and three leaves in mid-March; spring tea picking can be finished before Qingming. Because the buds and leaves are dense, the yield is high, and the tea is picked, processed, and marketed early, the economic benefit is good. For example, at the Pingyang County Shuitou Famous Tea Development Farm, a 5 mu, 5-year-old tea garden could produce 17.9 kg per mu of Zhejiang Longjing tea and 82.5 kg of pan-fired green tea, with an output value per mu of more than 6,100 yuan (of which Longjing tea accounted for 71.4%).

(3) According to biochemical testing of dry spring tea samples, this variety contains 4.8% amino acids, 22.9% tea polyphenols, 4.5% caffeine, and 40.3% water extracts, with a phenol-ammonia ratio of 4.8. It is suitable for making many types of tea such as Longjing, Huangtang, Maofeng, and Biluochun. The Longjing tea made from it has a flat, smooth, straight, and sharply tapered appearance, emerald green color, lasting delicate fragrance, a refreshing taste with a sweet aftertaste, and a tender green, bright liquor color, with excellent quality.

Pingyang Tezao Tea has high cutting survival rates and nursery output rates, and the transplanting survival rate is above 98%; in ordinary years it can overwinter normally. It is advisable to use cutting seedlings for single-row planting or double-row double-plant row planting. Because it sprouts extremely early, the spring tea sprouting fertilizer should also be applied early, preferably at the end of the previous year. After it comes into production, timely picking of tender shoots in batches should be carried out, and pruning should not be done when the garden is closed at the end of the year; it is better to prune after spring tea picking and processing is finished. Tea areas in the north should pay attention to the harm of "late spring cold."