A farmhand picks tea leaves in Longxi township. [Photo/Tide News]

Tea farmers in Longxi township, located in Qingyuan county in Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province, are currently hard at it picking new tea leaves as spring arrives.

The high mountain tea trees in the township have sprouted green buds one after another and the tea farmers are moving quickly to harvest the crop.

Yang Fashou, in charge of the Yingfeng tea factory, said that he has received many orders for Mingqian Tea, a premium grade of green tea made from the earliest spring buds.

"The quality of the tea harvested at this stage is very good and it sells for more than 1,200 yuan ($174.82) per kilogram," he said.

He added that only a relatively small number of tea trees are immediately ready to be picked, but he expects they will be fully harvested in another week.

Longxi has more than 3,000 mu (200 hectares) of tea under cultivation and six tea processing enterprises. Most of the tea trees grow at an altitude of more than 800 meters, where the soil is fertile and water abundant. This provides a high-quality environment for the growth of tea trees.

By late March, Longxi township will be in the midst of a large-scale picking boom.