In recent years, under the guidance of new-style tea drinks, flower tea has gradually become a favorite among young and female consumers due to its unique fragrance and health benefits. Many new tea brands choose flower tea as their base for blending. Against this backdrop, enthusiasm for flower tea production in Zhejiang Province is high, with a rapid increase in production enterprises and a significant rise in output. The trend in production is positive, and the province's flower tea industry faces unprecedented development opportunities.

This article analyzes the history of flower tea production in Zhejiang, current production and sales status, discusses the four major advantages of flower tea production in terms of policy, technology, raw materials, and market, and offers development recommendations.

Current Status of the Domestic Flower Tea Market

Flower tea is a type of reprocessed tea unique to China, made from finished tea blended with edible flowers capable of imparting fragrance, using a scenting process. In flower tea production, jasmine tea holds an absolute dominant position, accounting for approximately 90% of the national total.

In recent years, the domestic flower tea market has shifted towards mid-to-high-end products, with flower teas priced at several thousand yuan per kilogram, or even tens of thousands of yuan, entering the market, and some single products achieving sales over 100 million yuan. Currently, mid-to-high-end flower teas have significant economic benefits and a promising market outlook.

According to the China Tea Marketing Association's analysis of the sales situation of jasmine tea in China in 2025, the average domestic sales price of jasmine tea was 214.75 yuan/kg, up 4.29% year-on-year, significantly higher than the overall domestic sales price of 141.62 yuan/kg for all types of tea. In markets such as Heilongjiang, Jinan, and Liaoning, products priced between 300 and 500 yuan/kg are mainstream consumer products; apart from products from main producing areas like Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, and Yunnan, sales volumes of products from other producing areas like Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Guizhou have increased, rising from 1.67% in 2025 to 5.51% in 2025 in terms of market share.

History of Flower Tea Production in Zhejiang

Zhejiang has a long history of flower tea production. As early as the Song Dynasty, there are records in the poem “Strolling by Moonlight · Jasmine Flower.” In the Ming Dynasty, Qian Chunnian detailed the techniques of manually scenting lotus tea and jasmine tea in his book “Tea Spectrum.” During the Republican era, flower tea became a mass-produced commodity tea, mainly produced in Hangzhou and Jinhua.

In 1935 (the 24th year of the Republic), according to a special publication issued by the Hangzhou Weng Longsheng Tea Company, the company operated more than ten scented tea products, including jasmine top-grade valley, mao feng, da fang, and Osmanthus fragrans tea slices, at that time.

After 1949, flower tea production entered a period of great development. The regions producing tea-scenting flowers expanded, and the number of tea factories increased. The main types of flowers used included jasmine, white magnolia, osmanthus, Citrus blossom, gardenia, rose, and osmanthus, with jasmine holding the absolute dominant position.

By 1977, there were 19 counties (districts) across five cities in the province – Jinhua, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Wenzhou, and Lishui – producing jasmine. There were 11 state-owned refined tea factories in Hangzhou, Jinhua, Wenzhou, and Lishui engaged in scenting flower tea.

In 1978, the jasmine production in Jinhua County reached 568.9 tons, ranking second nationally, making it one of the three largest flower tea production bases in the country.

Before the 1990s, Zhejiang was one of the primary areas for growing jasmine and producing jasmine tea. Jinhua County (now Wucheng District) was once one of the three largest jasmine tea production areas in the country, with peak production reaching more than 5,000 tons, the highest in the country. Products were primarily allocated and supplied to out-of-province sales areas according to the national plan, including provinces and autonomous regions like Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin, and Ningxia, and were also exported to over 40 countries and regions in Europe, America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

At the end of the 1980s, Zhejiang began vigorously developing famous and high-quality teas, coupled with fluctuations in the prices of fresh flowers, leading to the southward shift of jasmine cultivation to Guangxi. The flower tea industry in Zhejiang rapidly declined, and flower tea production was neglected for a period.

Current Situation and Characteristics of Flower Tea Production in Zhejiang

In recent years, with the rise of online shopping and blended teas, the consumer base for flower tea has expanded from middle-aged and elderly individuals to younger adults, and the market has extended from northern to southern regions, with consumption levels moving from low to mid-to-high grade.

To adapt to market demand, the number of flower tea production enterprises has rapidly increased, along with output and value. According to incomplete statistics from Zhejiang Province's business departments, in 2025, the province produced 4,566 tons of flower tea, with a value of 126.77 million yuan, increases of 1,060 tons and 36.43 million yuan respectively compared to the previous year, growth rates of 30.23% and 40.33%. Compared to 2025, when production was 1,320 tons and the value was 24.4 million yuan, these figures represent increases of 2.46 times and 4.20 times, respectively.

Currently, apart from traditional loose tea for brewing, flower tea is mainly used in beverages. The main sales market for loose tea is still in the north. Apart from traditional markets, platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin live streaming have become new sales models.

According to public data from the Tea Industry Division of the Chinese Agricultural International Cooperation Promotion Association, the export volume of flower tea from Zhejiang Province has remained relatively stable in recent years. In 2025, the export volume was 1,171.6 tons, with jasmine tea exports accounting for 1,138.7 tons, or 97.2%, ranking second nationally, representing 18.43% of the national export volume of jasmine tea. The main export trading countries are Japan, the United States, and France, which together account for 81.14% of total flower tea exports, with Japan accounting for 73.75%, the United States for 5.29%, and France for 2.10%. From actual investigations, although the quantity of flower tea produced in Zhejiang is not large, many companies transport raw materials outside the province for processing, mainly focusing on jasmine tea, with volumes ranging from hundreds of kilograms to hundreds of tons.

The current production of flower tea in Zhejiang has the following distinct characteristics:

1. Diverse Product Range

The diversity of raw materials for scenting results in a rich variety of flower tea products. Enterprises use all six major categories of tea – green tea, Black Tea, Oolong Tea, white tea, etc. – for scenting flower tea, with jasmine tea generally based on green tea. Flowers used for scenting include jasmine, yulan, gardenia, osmanthus, wintersweet, citrus blossom, osmanthus fragrans, Chrysanthemum, orange blossom, loquat blossom, plum blossom, rose, and osmanthus, with jasmine-scented tea being the most produced. Jasmine cultivation is mainly concentrated in Lanxi, Jinhua, with only