Tea farmers pick tea leaves at the Fenghuang Tea Plantation in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

The first spring tea leaves will soon be available in Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.

Chen Baoying, a director of the city's Fenghuang Tea Plantation, said the first variety of tea ready for picking is Wuniuzao, a kind of green tea. It is expected to be available for sale on March 15.

One kilogram of top-class tea leaves harvested before Qingming, a Chinese solar term that will begin on April 5 this year, can sell for about 2,000 yuan ($290.15).

The Gaofeng Tea Plantation, which was established in 1969 and owns 25 hectares of tea gardens, will start picking tea leaves on March 25.