Spring Tea Market Shows Diversified and Rational Development Trends, Tea-Tourism Integration Stimulates New Consumer Vitality | New Economy Observation

Cover News Reporter Yi Yili

On March 14, the “Mengding Mountain Tea 2026 First Back Basket Tea Launch and Production-Sales Connection Event” kicked off at People’s Park in Chengdu. This event is guided by the Sichuan Tea Industry Association, Sichuan Tea Circulation Association, Sichuan Tea Society, and Chengdu People’s Park, and hosted by the Mingshan District People’s Government of Ya’an City. Through an innovative model of “tea tourism integration and balanced quality and effect,” the event promotes Mengding Mountain tea culture into urban life and stimulates new vitality in spring tea consumption.

During the spring tea auction, Mengding Ganlu and Mengding Yellow Buds were auctioned on-site. Subsequently, the authentic Mengding Mountain tea cultural route was officially launched, connecting tea garden sightseeing, boutique homestays, cultural experience spaces, and tea history museums to promote deep integration of tea culture and tourism. Authentic protection tea gardens were authorized and signed, and collaborations with tea merchants were established. Several tea companies reached cooperation agreements with nationwide distributors, achieving fruitful production and sales connections.

The JD.com self-operated Mengding Mountain Tea store also officially opened on the same day, further upgrading online sales channels, allowing consumers to enjoy fresh Mengding tea from home. Finally, leaders and tea enterprise representatives pressed the energy pillar together, marking the official start of the two-week “Ten Thousand People Tasting Tea” event.

According to reports, from March 14 to 31, Chengdu People’s Park will host a variety of colorful tea cultural experience activities. Citizens and tourists can taste a variety of fine teas such as Ganlu, Yellow Buds, and black tea under the spring sun, enjoy the “Eighteen Styles of Dragon Walking” tea skill performance, and watch intangible cultural heritage inheritors demonstrate traditional tea-making techniques live. Hanfu parade teams will shuttle through the park, interacting with visitors and taking photos. A specially curated “Gongding Tianbao” immersive check-in experience will lead visitors through a thousand-year journey to explore Gongcha culture, allowing them to feel the profound heritage of Mengding Gongcha through fun interactions. During the event, a Gongcha cultural exhibition will also be held, allowing citizens to learn about Mengding Mountain tea’s thousand-year glory as the “First Tribute Tea” up close.

Sichuan is a major tea-producing province and a large consumer of tea. To promote high-quality development of the Sichuan tea industry, the province has actively planned at the provincial level and introduced multiple policies to support industry upgrading. The “Opinions on Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Fine Sichuan Tea Industry and Increasing Farmers’ Income,” issued in 2022, clearly defined development goals: by 2025, the gross output value of rough tea should reach 40 billion yuan, with a total output value exceeding 130 billion yuan; by 2030, gross output value should reach 60 billion yuan, with a total output value exceeding 200 billion yuan. In 2024, Sichuan’s comprehensive tea output value has already exceeded 120 billion yuan, laying a solid foundation for achieving long-term goals.

Industry insiders say that the spring tea market in 2026 is showing a trend of diversification, standardization, and rationalization. Consumers’ understanding of spring tea is gradually maturing; they no longer blindly pursue “earlier is better,” but pay more attention to the origin, variety, craftsmanship, and taste of the tea. New formats such as tea-tour integration, tea garden sponsorship, and tea-making experiences allow consumers to shift from “drinking tea” to “understanding tea,” deeply participating and experiencing the charm of tea culture.