Tea may be available to drink throughout the year, but it is certainly not harvested everywhere at once.

Every tea-growing region follows its own seasonal rhythm. Temperature, rainfall, elevation and daylight determine when the tea plant begins producing new shoots—and when those leaves are ready to be picked.

We created our new Global Tea Harvest Calendar to make these overlapping seasons easier to explore. Select a tea-growing region on the map to see its principal harvest periods, compare climates and discover what may be growing around the world right now.

Why does the tea harvest season matter?

Tea is made from the leaves and buds of Camellia sinensis, but those leaves change considerably as the growing season progresses.

The earliest spring shoots generally develop slowly after a period of winter dormancy. They can be tender, aromatic and highly concentrated in flavour. Later harvests grow under warmer conditions and may produce teas with greater strength, body or astringency.

The harvest date does not determine quality on its own. Cultivar, elevation, weather, soil, plucking standard and tea-making skill all matter. However, the season provides useful context for understanding why two teas from the same garden can taste remarkably different.

It can influence:

• The tenderness and size of the leaf
• Aroma and flavour intensity
• Levels of sweetness, bitterness and astringency
• The style of tea a producer chooses to make
• Availability and price
• How the finished tea responds to brewing

For tea merchants, the harvest calendar also guides when we speak with growers, request samples, compare seasonal lots and plan shipments to New Zealand.

What does “flush” mean in tea?

A flush is a period of new growth on the tea plant. After shoots are plucked, the plant rests and produces another wave of leaves.

The term is most familiar in northern India and Nepal, where tea seasons are commonly divided into First Flush, Second Flush, Monsoon Flush and Autumn Flush.

However, these names are not used universally. Japan has Ichibancha and Nibancha, Korea has Ujeon and Sejak, while Sri Lankan producers often speak about regional quality seasons shaped by the monsoons.

Applying the same flush terminology to every country would overlook the local growing conditions and tea traditions that make each origin distinctive.

First Flush: the arrival of spring

In Darjeeling and Nepal, First Flush generally begins during March and continues through April, although the precise starting date depends on elevation and the arrival of warmer weather.

These early teas are often light, bright and aromatic, with floral, green and sometimes citrus-like characteristics. They can look and taste quite different from the darker black teas many people associate with India.

Assam also produces a First Flush. It tends to be fresher and lighter than the region’s later teas, although Assam is better known for the rich character of its Second Flush.

In parts of China, the earliest spring teas may be described in relation to the Qingming Festival. Pre-Qingming teas are made from very young buds and leaves gathered before the festival in early April. These prized early harvests can include green, white and fine black teas.

Second Flush: warmth, depth and structure

As temperatures rise, the tea plant grows more vigorously.

Darjeeling Second Flush is generally harvested during May and June. This season is known for fuller-bodied teas and the celebrated ripe fruit or “muscatel” character associated with certain gardens and growing conditions.

Assam’s Second Flush, also produced around May and June, is especially valued for rich, malty black teas with golden tips. These teas have the depth and structure to be enjoyed alone or with milk.

Nepal’s Second Flush often develops a deeper fruitiness and greater body than its delicate spring counterpart.

Monsoon and Autumn Flushes

During the monsoon, plentiful rain and warm temperatures encourage rapid leaf growth across northern India and Nepal.

Monsoon teas, generally made from July through September, are often stronger and darker than spring teas. While they may receive less attention from speciality tea drinkers, they are important for robust breakfast blends and everyday black teas.

When the rains recede, the plant produces its final significant growth of the season. Autumn Flush teas are usually made during October and November.

Darjeeling and Nepal autumn teas can be rounded, mellow and aromatic, sitting stylistically between the delicacy of spring and the strength of the wet-season crop.

Japan: from Shincha to autumn Bancha

Japan uses its own language to describe successive tea harvests.

The first harvest is called Ichibancha. The earliest tea released from this season is often sold as Shincha, meaning “new tea”. The harvest begins in warmer southern districts and gradually moves north, generally from late March through May.

This is the principal season for many highly regarded Japanese teas, including fine Sencha, Gyokuro, Kabusecha and Tencha—the leaf traditionally milled to produce Matcha.

Later harvests include:

• Nibancha: the second harvest, generally during June and July
• Sanbancha: a third harvest produced in some regions from late July into August
• Aki-bancha: mature leaf gathered during the autumn

Not every garden produces every harvest. Some growers deliberately stop after the first or second picking to protect the plants or focus entirely on premium spring tea.

Korea: Ujeon, Sejak, Jungjak and Daejak

Korean green teas are often classified according to when the leaves are picked.

• Ujeon is gathered before approximately 20 April and represents the earliest, most delicate spring leaves.
• Sejak follows from late April into early May.
• Jungjak is generally picked during May and early June.
• Daejak is made from larger, more mature leaves gathered later in the season.

These names communicate both timing and leaf maturity, offering a distinctly Korean way of understanding the progression of the tea year.

Sri Lanka and Nilgiri: regional quality seasons

Tea can be harvested throughout the year in the tropical growing environments of Sri Lanka and southern India. Even so, certain weather patterns create particularly desirable quality periods.

In Sri Lanka, dry winds and monsoon conditions affect each side of the central mountains differently.

The western quality season generally occurs from January through March and is associated with regions such as Dimbula. The eastern quality season arrives around July to September and is especially important for the distinctive teas of Uva.

Nilgiri in southern India is also harvested year-round. Its celebrated Winter Frost teas are generally produced from December through February, when cool conditions contribute to particularly fragrant high-grown black teas.

These regions are better understood through local quality seasons than through the First and Second Flush terminology used farther north.

Tea beyond the traditional growing belt

Commercial tea production is increasingly appearing in places outside the regions usually associated with the crop.

Tea is now grown in New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Chile, Colombia and parts of North America. Their harvest calendars can look quite different from those of Asia.

New Zealand, Australia and Chile follow a Southern Hemisphere cycle. Their first spring growth may appear around September or October, with the main season continuing through summer and into early autumn.

Scotland and other cool northern gardens have a much shorter season, sometimes limited to late spring and summer. In equatorial Colombia, meanwhile, tea may grow throughout the year, with quality and production influenced more by rainfall than by winter dormancy.

These emerging regions demonstrate that latitude is only one part of the story. Local temperature, elevation, rainfall, daylight and garden management all shape the harvest.

Explore the tea year

Tea does not follow a single global season. While Japan may be preparing for its first spring harvest, Sri Lanka could be entering a regional quality period and New Zealand gardens may be approaching the end of their growing year.

That continuous movement is part of what makes tea so fascinating. Every harvest is a record of a particular place, plant, season and moment in time.

Use our interactive Global Tea Harvest Calendar to explore the principal harvest periods of tea-growing regions around the world—and see what may be arriving next.