Taiping Houkui Tea Officially Enters Harvest Season in Huangshan, Anhui

On April 16, Taiping Houkui, one of China’s top ten famous teas, officially kicked off its harvest season in Xinming Township, Huangshan District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province. As the core producing area of Taiping Houkui, the high-altitude tea gardens in Houkeng Village, Xinming Township, are in the busiest period, with tea pickers shuttling through the tea bushes to collect fresh leaves.

CNR reports that Huangshan District is the origin of Taiping Houkui, with a tea garden area of 75,000 mu. The hand-making technique of Taiping Houkui is a national intangible cultural heritage and has been included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The tea adheres to the standard of two leaves embracing one bud and is refined through more than ten traditional processes such as spreading, fixing, shaping and baking, all done by hand.

Zhongtan Villager Group, located in the east of Houkeng Village, is adjacent to water. Local tea farmers and the tea pickers they hire first take a boat to the dock, then take a car to the foot of the mountain, and finally hike up the mountain to reach the high-altitude tea gardens and pick fresh Taiping Houkui leaves.

Surrounded by high mountains and dense forests, the tea gardens are shrouded in morning mist. Tea pickers carry bamboo baskets on their shoulders, and their fingers “dance” nimbly among the tea branches. Their busy figures dot the tea bushes, outlining a vivid and lively picture of the harvest season. Shi Cuifen, a tea farmer from Zhongtan Villager Group, said, “We have to get up early every day to pick fresh leaves, as the morning dew keeps the tea tender and fragrant.”

It is reported that in 2025, the total output of tea in Huangshan District reached 1,722.8 tons, with a primary industry output value of 720 million yuan and a comprehensive output value of 3.9 billion yuan. Tencent News notes that Taiping Houkui is usually picked around Guyu Festival, with strict picking requirements that include selecting one bud and three leaves of uniform size.

Houkeng Village, the core birthplace of Taiping Houkui, has 5,400 mu of tea gardens and a forest coverage rate of over 95%. The unique Shida tea variety grown here ensures the high quality of Taiping Houkui raw materials. Huangshan District Agriculture and Rural Bureau reports that a blockchain traceability platform for Taiping Houkui has been built, covering 49,000 mu of tea gardens and 5,645 tea farmers, realizing full traceability from the tea garden to the teacup.

In recent years, Huangshan District has promoted green pest control in tea gardens and introduced mechanized equipment such as plant protection drones to improve production efficiency. The integration of tea and tourism has also flourished, with characteristic tea spaces and tea museums built to enrich the industrial chain. Currently, the brand value of Taiping Houkui has reached 5.298 billion yuan, and it has won the highest gold award in the World Green Tea Evaluation for consecutive years.

Today, in Zhongtan Villager Group of Houkeng Village, every household lives a prosperous life with the lingering fragrance of tea. The tea industry has become a pillar industry for local people to increase their income and strengthen the village, helping villagers live a better life through the “leaf of fortune”.