Pre-Qingming - Early Teas

March/April is a uniquely special time for growing and drinking tea. Many questions often come during this time regarding such short tea labels as "Mingqian", or "Pre-Qingming", with many people wondering what these words mean.

Well, Qingming (pronounced Ching Ming) simply refers to QingMingJie or Qing Ming Festival. That's right, it is a festival! Though, not one of the happier and particularly exciting ones. Qing Ming festival is often translated as Tomb Sweeping Day since it is a day of honouring our ancestors and visiting their burial sites. It is also a time of getting family together, and as a result is definitely not too somber a day, as the name might imply.

As for tea, Pre-Qingming and Mingqian (pronounced Ming Chien) are synonymous with 'Before Qing Ming Festival". All tea produced before this holiday period are given this prestigious label that signifies the earliest of the main pickings, and therefore the youngest possible tea leaves. These teas have a slightly greener taste and are generally a lot gentler and subtler than their later-picked counterparts. The general consensus in the tea community is that Mingqian tea is wonderful, but still a matter of taste. And it's value is extremely high due to two reasons: 1) It is widely seen as superior and 2) it is simply hard to find much tea to harvest so early in the season!

Try the following Pre-Qingming teas for yourself:
· Lion Mountain Pre-Qingming West Lake Long Jing - A
· MeiJiawu Pre-Qingming West Lake Long Jing - B
· Pre-Qingming Dongting Biluochun