Photo Credit: Tea and Beverage Research Station
The Tea and Beverage Research Station (TBRS) of the Ministry of Agriculture in Taiwan recently announced the launch of a new tea cultivar, dubbed “Tai Cha #26” or “Feng He”. A press release by TBRS describes the Tai Cha #26 cultivar as a robust plant with high output volume and straight-standing growth that is ideal for mechanized harvesting. These traits, along with the cultivar’s bold flavor and rich aftertaste, make it the perfect candidate for meeting the increasing demand for tea leaves in Taiwan’s booming markets for bottled tea and tea beverages, which have exploded in popularity among younger generations of tea drinkers. Tai Cha #26 is the first new cultivar that is specially geared towards commercialized production, and is expected to drive new development in Taiwan’s tea industry.
TBRS director Su Tsung-Chen noted that, while the development of past cultivars emphasized interesting fragrances and unique flavors, newer cultivars are being selected for their higher yields and heartiness, facilitating mechanized production and making them better suited to face the looming challenges of labor shortages and climate change. In 2008, TBRS began testing various possible cultivars which could achieve these results and finally selected strain number 5313 for its potential in making green and black teas, officially designating the cultivar Tai Cha #26 on June 11, 2024. The secondary name Feng He (豐鶴), meaning “bountiful crane”, was later selected through public voting based on a list of 10 potential names and announced on August 5.
TBRS identified several advantages of Tai Cha #26. In terms of fresh leaf production, Tai Cha #26 plants develop large and dense crowns that generate roughly double the growth output of the popular green tea cultivar Chin Shin Gan Zai. Mechanized harvests in summer, autumn, and winter of 2023 yielded an average of 3.3 tons per hectare per season. The cultivar’s straight growth patterns pair well with mechanized harvesting. A team of two operating a riding harvester can harvest 1 to 1.5 hectares per day, and a three-person team operating a two-person tea plucker can cover 0.5 hectares per day. This is equivalent to 90 individuals harvesting by hand, which will address rising labor shortages in the Taiwanese tea industry and reduce production costs. The cultivar’s leaves also remain fresh and supple long after harvesting and the relatively lengthy picking period offers ideal conditions for making high quality commercial green and black teas.
TBRS believes that Tai Cha #26 is well equipped to meet the needs of various markets, and has developed new processing technologies to create commercial quick-brew green and red teas suited for both hot and cold brewing. TBRS describes the infusions as bold in flavor, with a rich aftertaste that improves on the experience offered by the cultivars currently used for green tea production. Analyses of the tea’s chemical composition reveal that Tai Cha #26 boasts a high concentration of catechins and caffeine, which will allow the use of fewer tea leaves to create an equally strong and satisfying cup of tea while also reducing costs for businesses.