The Longding Tea Town Innovation Park in Kaihua county, Quzhou, Zhejiang province, opened on Jan 9, promoting the innovative development of Kaihua's Longding tea industry.

Longding tea, renowned as one of Zhejiang's top 10 famous teas, is picked from high-altitude tea trees and processed using traditional methods. This gives it an upright shape and a high, long-lasting fragrance.

The park is more than a processing zone; it is a comprehensive platform integrating the tea industry, tea technology, and tea culture.

The park focuses on raw materials for tea-based drinks, with its core business targeting tea ingredients for beverages, which are expected to account for over 70 percent of operations. It has already attracted leading enterprises across categories such as powdered tea, matcha, and tea-based beverage ingredients.

A bird's-eye view of Longding Tea Town Innovation Park. [Photo/Tide News]

The park is advancing digitization and automation, with its high-tech devices significantly reducing labor needs and enhancing product quality and stability.

Bao Jing, director of the China National Tea Museum, envisions collaborating with Kaihua to build a tea museum that promotes the integrated development of tea culture and tourism.

The innovation park is not only boosting industrial output but also driving shared prosperity in Kaihua. It purchases fresh tea leaves from local farmers, creates numerous employment opportunities, and supports the formation of a complete tea industry ecosystem from cultivation and processing to sales and tea-themed cultural tourism.