When Keemun Tea Comes To the Market Each Year.

Keemun tea was also begun being harvested during early Spring (commonly the end of March) each year and going through the first production stage called"Cuzhi"(preliminary processing). Each batch of "maocha"(tea just after the preliminary processing) will be graded and some good of them (commonly harvested earlier) can directly come to the market after selecting. The "maocha" directly comes to the market is just called Keemun Mao Feng.

The preliminary processing will be over at the end of May or early June. The Maocha of lower grades will be further processed. The further production stage is called "Jingzhi"(refinement processing). It is said during the old times, the refinement includes more than 40 procedures, now it also has 12. The aim is to make the appearance of the tea smaller, tighter and slenderer, removing the foreign substances and drying away water. The tea after refinement is called Keemun Congou which has 10 grades (Hao Ya A, Hao Ya B, Special and 1-7 Grades). The Keemun Congou of higher grades will be finished earlier than the ones of lower grades. The Keemun Congou of 7th Grades will be available until September.

In addition, the leaves for making Keemun Mao Feng will be finished harvesting until the Mid- May while the entire harvesting will be finished until the end of June. The leaves harvested between the Mid-May and the end of June will only be made for producing Keemun Congou because the leaves harvested during the period is much bigger. No harvesting will be made in Autumn and Winter for Keemun tea.