From Drought to Renewal: Reflections on the 2025 Spring Tea Harvest.
Our life in Xishuangbanna this winter has been especially pleasant, with a dry season occasionally interrupted by rain, tempering the extremes of heat and drought we had grown accustomed to in previous years.
In our forest in Nannuo, the trees remained healthy and strong, showing no concerning signs of drought. Our team anticipated a good harvest with average yields. This outlook seemed consistent across most of the mountains we visited on the Menghai side, while the Yiwu region appeared to lag behind, struggling with the effects of its historically drier climate.
Analysing the climate datas, after the consecutive droughts from 2023 to 2024, the early spring of 2025 brought the arrival of spring rains, prompting the budding of tea shoots in some tea-producing areas of Yunnan.
The climate in 2024 was predominantly characterised by drought. Most regions experienced lower-than-average rainfall and higher temperatures, particularly from March to May when drought conditions were notably severe. The onset of the rainy season in Yunnan was delayed, and once the rains began, the distribution of precipitation was uneven, with sporadic heavy downpours.
The rainy season exhibited an extreme climate pattern of "early drought followed by later heavy rains." It commenced on May 25th and lasted until mid-October or even later, with the total rainfall across the county being approximately 25.0% higher than the same period in the previous three years.
In the early spring of 2025, from the Beginning of Spring to the Rain Water solar terms, Yunnan experienced five episodes of beneficial rainfall. The climate was mild and humid, without any severe spring drought, resulting in tea trees exhibiting robust vitality.
From February to March, a phenomenon of late spring cold spells occurred. Overall temperatures were relatively low, with less precipitation and significant temperature fluctuations. The day-night temperature difference was considerable, with some areas experiencing lows of -4°C. However, the day-night temperature range remained within the favorable range of 15-20°C. In the Menghai tea-producing region, the tea sprouting period was delayed by 7 to 10 days. Despite the persistent low temperatures slowing down tea tree growth, causing late sprouting and a lower budding rate, no major disasters occurred.
At the time of writing, our harvest in Nannuo has been ongoing for four days, and our ancient trees in Lunan/Pasha have also been harvested for one day.
Our team of pickers, that has been unchanged for several years, is our first external indicator. As soon as they began their work in the tea forest and their fingers touched the tea sprouts, they joyfully told us that this might be one of our best years so far: the soil is soft, the trees are healthy, and the leaves are abundant, fragrant, and tender.
In recent years, the weather has been especially unpredictable, and we know that many things can still happen. Still, a good start is both a pleasure and a blessing for everyone involved in this splendid life.
