Production
The highest grades of white tea, yellow tea, and green tea are made from tender tea shoots picked early spring. These young tea shoots may consist of a single terminal bud, a bud with an adjacent leaf or a bud with two adjacent slightly unfurled leaves. It is generally required that the leaves are equal in length or shorter than the buds. The more-oxidized tea—such as red or oolong tea—are made from more mature leaves. Not all high grade green tea is made from tender tea shoots. The highly regarded green tea Lu An Gua Pian is made from more matured leaves. Traditionally these tender tea shoots are picked before 5 April, or Qingming Festival. The standard practice is to start picking when 5% of the garden is ready, or when the tea buds reach certain size. In some tea gardens, tea shoots are picked daily, or every 2 days.