Tibetan tea plantation to promote Red culture to boost development

The world's highest tea garden in Nyingchi, Tibet autonomous region, aims to drive local economic development to a new level by combining green tea trees with "Red" culture derived from the peaceful liberation of Tibet in the 1950s.

The Yigong tea plantation is located deep in Bomi county. It is the highest tea plantation in the world, as well as the first and only tea producer in the region.

Dai Bao, deputy head of the plantation, said the unique environment in Bomi helps ensure the tea's good quality. The area sits at an average altitude of around 2,000 meters, the highest elevation tea trees can adapt to. In addition, the river valley and dense forests provide abundant precipitation and oxygen, and the soil acidity is also ideal for tea growth.

Huang Hualin, a tea expert from the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences Tea Institute, said because of the relatively low temperatures on the plateau, the dormancy period of tea trees in Yigong is relatively long.

"It makes the tea leaves accumulate more nutrients and taste sweeter and richer," he added.