From Rize to Your Cup: Turkish Tea Harvest Calendar Explained

From Rize to Your Cup: The Complete Turkish Tea Harvest Calendar

When you hold a glass of Lazika tea, you are holding all four seasons of the Black Sea coast. In the misty mountains of Rize, the tea plant yields more than one harvest per year — and each season brings a distinctly different character to your cup. Here is the full harvest calendar, from the plant's winter rest to the moment your tea is poured.

Winter: The Quiet Season (December – February)

To the casual observer, the tea gardens of Rize look dormant under winter snow. But beneath the surface, something important is happening: roots deepen, the soil recovers its minerals, and the plant builds the energy reserves that will power its spectacular spring awakening. For Lazika, winter is a time of preparation — quality audits, equipment maintenance, and readying for the season ahead.

May: The Crown of the Harvest — First Flush

May is the most important month in the Turkish tea calendar. The first flush — the very first leaves to emerge after winter — are considered the finest of the entire year. They are younger, more tender, and packed with aromatic compounds that give Turkish tea its characteristic depth.

Lazika's Black Tea and Green Tea are both harvested during this first flush, hand-picked to a strict '2.5-leaf' standard: only the bud and the two youngest leaves are selected. This is why Lazika tea is dust-free, rich, and clean in the cup.

What makes May tea special:

•        More complex aroma than later harvests

•        Deep ruby colour when brewed

•        A clean, slightly astringent finish that lingers pleasantly

•        Higher levels of polyphenols and antioxidants

June – July: The Summer Harvest

As summer arrives, the tea plant grows rapidly, producing larger volumes of leaf. This is the most abundant harvest period, though the leaves are somewhat more mature and the flavour profile slightly lighter than May. Much of Turkey's everyday tea comes from summer harvest leaves.

September – October: The Autumn Harvest

The final harvest of the year, gathered as temperatures begin to fall, carries its own charm. Slower growth during cooler weather concentrates the remaining flavour compounds, giving autumn harvest teas an earthy, full-bodied character distinct from the brightness of May.

Why Harvest Timing Matters

The quality of tea is shaped by soil, microclimate, and — above all — timing. At Lazika, we work exclusively with May first-flush leaves because we believe the best tea begins with the best raw material. Every leaf is hand-picked, double-filtered to remove dust, and processed at our facility in Rize/Ardeşen using traditional methods.

When you taste Lazika, you taste Rize at its finest moment.

→ Explore the Lazika First Harvest Collection.