I have conducted an interview with a tea farmer I know, not in this area, but with knowledge applicable to tea farming anywhere. Instead of waxing eloquent about what I know, I wanted to go straight to someone who knows more than I do about tea, tea leaves, and tea farming.
You grow Oolong Tea. You have said that different varieties of tea bushes are planted depending on the different kinds of teas you want to produce. From the bushes you have planted, what kinds of tea can be produced?
There are hundreds of varieties of tea. Each different variety of tea is suitable for certain processes.
I grow #12 tea. Traditionally, this variety of tea has been used to produce a nice Oolong or an equally nice green tea. The difference is in the processing, or lack thereof. Tea gets its color from oxidation. When tea is exposed to heat and humidity it ferments or oxidizes (or oxidises, if you prefer).
I also grow a variety of tea named Yuan Tze (or Luan Tze, Yuan Chu), basically meaning 'young branch' or 'tender leaf'. This tea is used solely for Oolong production. However, it is a hard case for those raising it. I think that Taiwan actually genetically engineered this tea (because this tea was "developed" by the Taiwanese)
This tea produces, by far, the best Oolong for an Asian taste. Westerners prefer to have stronger teas, because they are used to drinking Lipton, red rose, tender leaf, etc. So we have found that our #12 Oolong sells good with Westerners, and the #12 green does well with our Asian market. The great thing about #12 is that it begins to produce at eight months. Ok, it does not produce much as eight months, but it is still something. We make all of our money on #12.
Your bushes are specifically for high grade Oolong Tea. Would the average green tea require a different kind of bush?
There are a few good varieties for green, Four Seasons, Chiao Ching, #34, and #12. But it is not just the variety of tea alone that determines whether you will get a good product or not. There are some other factors: soil, mean relative temperature, mean relative humidity, altitiude, and angle to the sun. But Guangxi Province should be able to produce some good tea.
