Temperature
Shoot growth begins at roughly 13–14°C, with the strongest growth generally occurring between 18°C and 30°C.
Noble & Sunday Field Guide
The year in tea.
Explore when tea is typically harvested around the world. Select a place on the map, switch growing regions on and off, or choose a month to see what is being made.
Traditional commercial tea range · approx. 42°N–27°S
Growing region
A field guide, not a fixed picking schedule. Exact dates shift each year with elevation, weather, cultivar and producer decisions.
Climate through the year
Rain shapes the season. Temperature sets its pace.
Compare representative monthly rainfall and temperature patterns for the tea-growing places shown above.
Estimated annual rainfall—mm
Mean annual temperature—°C
Rainfall · mmMean temperature · °C
Representative climatology from NASA POWER. Regional and high-elevation garden conditions can differ.
Beyond the calendar
Latitude is only part of the story.
Temperature, daylight, water and elevation work together to determine when a tea bush grows, rests and produces harvestable shoots.
Daylight
When daylight falls below approximately 11 hours 15 minutes, tea bushes may move into seasonal dormancy.
Rainfall
Around 150 mm of rain each month can support continuous growth. Below roughly 1,150 mm annually, irrigation is generally needed.
Elevation
Commercial tea has been grown from sea level to around 2,200 metres. Higher elevations slow growth and reshape the season.
A remarkably small harvest
Only around 10–18% of the plant’s produced biomass becomes the tender shoots harvested for tea.
Figures adapted from Tea: Cultivation to Consumption (Willson & Clifford, 1992).