Bioscience Evidence 2026, Vol.16, No.4, 235-248 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 246 sugars, and catechins. Autumn tea showed a relatively strong capacity for selenium accumulation, providing a new option for the development of specialty functional tea products. Advances in processing technology have further expanded the possible uses of summer and autumn tea. Fermentation, enzymatic transformation, and raw material grading can improve flavor, increase the concentrations of quality-related compounds such as theaflavins and thearubigins, and enhance overall product quality. Summer and autumn leaves may also serve as important raw materials for steamed Tencha, matcha, and tea powder. These materials can then be used to develop tea beverages, tea bags, cakes, noodles, ice cream, and other food products, thereby improving the annual utilization rate of fresh leaves. Future high-value product development will also place greater emphasis on green processing and intelligent manufacturing. Green technologies such as microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasonic extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction can improve the extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds, reduce energy consumption, and increase product stability. At the same time, future tea processing will increasingly focus on balancing functional compounds with flavor quality. Precision processing can be used to develop specialty products with strong aroma, high amino acid or catechin levels, and low caffeine contents (Wei et al., 2024). The future seasonal tea industry should no longer focus only on raising the price of spring tea. Instead, it should establish a diversified product system based on the characteristics of leaves harvested in different seasons. Spring tea should focus on premium quality, summer tea on processing, and autumn tea on product development. This approach can create a complete industrial chain covering year-round production, processing, and marketing. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The author affirms that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. References Aaqil M., Peng C., Kamal A., Nawaz T., Zhang F., and Gong J., 2023, Tea harvesting and processing techniques and its effect on phytochemical profile and final quality of black tea: A review, Foods, 12: 4467. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12244467 Benti T., Debela A., Bekele Y., and Suleman S., 2023, Effect of seasonal variation on yield and leaf quality of tea clone (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) in South West Ethiopia, Heliyon, 9: e14051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14051 Cai J., Qiu Z., Liao J., Li A., Chen J., Wu Z., Khan W., Sun B., Liu S., and Zheng P., 2024, Comprehensive analysis of the yield and leaf quality of fresh tea (Camellia sinensis cv. Jin Xuan) under different nitrogen fertilization levels, Foods, 13: 2091. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13132091 Chen L., Shi Y., Sun J., Wang H., Wang Y.-F., Shu Z., He W., Dong C., and Xu P., 2025, Deciphering the flavor profile and seasonal variation of black tea processed from cultivar 'Baiye 1', Food Research International, 208: 116181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2025.116181 Chen L., Zhang S., Feng Y., Jiang Y., Yuan H., Shan X., Zhang Q., Niu L., Wang S., Zhou Q., and Li J., 2024, Seasonal variation in non-volatile flavor substances of fresh tea leaves (Camellia sinensis) by integrated lipidomics and metabolomics using UHPLC-Q-Exactive mass spectrometry, Food Chemistry, 462: 140986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.140986 Chiang S.H., Yang K.M., Wang S.Y., and Chen C.W., 2022, Enzymatic treatment in black tea manufacturing processing: Impact on bioactive compounds, quality, and bioactivities of black tea, LWT, 163: 113560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2022.113560 Cui H.N., Gu H.W., Li Z.Q., Sun W., Ding B., Li Z., Chen Y., Long W., Yin X.L., and Fu H., 2023, Integration of lipidomics and metabolomics approaches for the discrimination of harvest time of green tea in spring season by using UPLC-Triple-TOF/MS coupled with chemometrics, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7: 1119314. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1119314 Fu Z., Chen L., Zhou S., Hong Y., Zhang X., and Chen H., 2024, Analysis of differences in the accumulation of tea compounds under various processing techniques, geographical origins, and harvesting seasons, Food Chemistry, 430: 137000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137000 Hazra A., Saha S., Dasgupta N., Kumar R., Sengupta C., and Das S., 2021, Ecophysiological traits differentially modulate secondary metabolite accumulation and antioxidant properties of tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze), Scientific Reports, 11: 2795. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82454-3
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