Longyou matcha powder

Longyou’s Role in China’s Tea Landscape

Longyou is a county in Zhejiang Province, China, where tea cultivation has thrived for centuries in conditions that shape leaf quality and flavor profiles. Located in a subtropical monsoon climate with red loam soil, this region produces tea with distinctive characteristics influenced by its environment. While Longyou is historically known for its yellow tea variety, it sits within Zhejiang Province, which now produces over half of China’s matcha output and serves as the world’s largest matcha supplier with production values nearing 900 million yuan.

Climate and Soil Conditions That Define Quality

Longyou experiences an average annual temperature of 18°C with rainfall between 1,000-1,900 mm and roughly 1,769 hours of sunshine yearly. The region’s red loam soil contains phosphorus, calcium, iron, and sulfur that directly impact tea leaf biochemistry. This soil composition boosts theanine content, which creates the sweet and umami characteristics prized in quality tea. The relative humidity stays around 79%, though spring frost poses challenges for early tea buds. Compared to traditional Japanese matcha regions with 2,000+ hours of annual sunshine, Longyou’s lower light exposure affects chlorophyll accumulation and photosynthesis rates in tea plants.

Cultivation Practices and Processing Methods

Tea farmers in Longyou work with natural sunlight cultivation rather than the shade-growing techniques typical of Japanese matcha production. Shade-growing involves covering plants for weeks before harvest to increase chlorophyll and amino acids, but Longyou’s approach focuses on sun-grown tea that develops different flavor compounds. The region’s signature Longyou Yellow Tea undergoes partial oxidation with combined heat and moisture, creating a mellow profile. This differs from matcha processing, which requires immediate steaming or pan-firing to prevent oxidation and maintain vibrant green color. Tea cultivation here supports local economies, with processing facilities handling everything from traditional methods to modern instant tea production.

Connection to Modern Matcha Production

While Longyou itself isn’t a primary matcha production center, its position within Zhejiang Province connects it to China’s matcha industry. Zhejiang pioneered Chinese matcha production and now supplies both domestic and international markets. The province’s established infrastructure and tea-growing expertise enable large-scale matcha manufacturing. Tea leaves from regions like Longyou contain the amino acids, catechins, and chlorophyll needed for quality matcha, though processing methods differ from historical practices. The red loam soil’s influence on theanine levels makes Zhejiang-grown tea suitable for matcha production when processed correctly. Modern cultivation includes controlled irrigation and soil management to maintain fertility, with producers increasingly pursuing organic certifications to meet global standards. This evolution positions Longyou and surrounding areas as contributors to China’s growing role in the matcha supply chain.