HARVESTING OF NEW GREEN TEA LEAVES

[Anchor Lead]

Gogwoo is one of the 24 seasonal divisions of the year on the Lunar calendar, and means a spring rain for seeding. This year's gogwoo falls on April 19th, and around this time of the year, the harvest of new green tea begins in Jeollanam-do Province. With gogwoo just a week away, green tea farmers are hard at work harvesting this year's crops in Boseong.

[Pkg]

Tea fields take on a rich green hue amid warm spring breeze. Fresh, young tea sprouts stand out. Farmers get busy and their baskets are soon filled with tea leaves.

[Soundbite] SONG MYUNG-JA(TEA FARMER) : "Spear-like leaves sprout at first. After exposed to plenty of sunlight, the sprouts unfold into leaves, like this."

Newly harvested tea is repeatedly roasted about ten times in a cauldron at nearly 400 degrees Celsius. Now the tea is ready.

[Soundbite] PARK YOON-SOON(LOCAL RESIDENT) : "Nothing can describe the happiness I feel when drinking a cup of tea brewed with newly harvested leaves, while looking out the window."

Called woojeon, new tea harvested around gogwoo is graded as the finest in taste and flavor. Green tea contains catechin, known for its antiviral effect. The antioxidant has numerous health benefits. Due to the continuing spread of COVID-19, green tea festivals across the nation were canceled. However, demand for green tea is surging.

[Soundbite] KIM SOO-YEON(GREEN TEA SELLER) : "Previously, green tea used to be sold as a gift for elderly people. But now, an increasing number of younger people is purchasing it."

As the weather was warmer than usual last winter, green tea harvest began a week earlier than in previous years amid high expectations for a bumper crop.