Tea jassid facts for kids

The Jacobiasca formosana, also known as the tea jassid, is a tiny insect. It belongs to a group of insects called leafhoppers. These insects are known for hopping quickly from plant to plant. The tea jassid mainly lives on Gossypium (cotton) plants and, very importantly, on tea plants. You can find this insect in many parts of Asia, including China, India, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

What Is a Tea Jassid?

The J. formosana is often called the small green leafhopper or tea green leafhopper. In Mandarin Chinese, people call it 茶小綠葉蟬 (chá xiǎo lǜ yèchán). In Taiwanese, it's known as 浮塵仔 (phû-tîn-á). Sometimes, other types of leafhoppers have similar names, which can be a bit confusing!

What Does It Look Like and How Does It Live?

Adult tea jassids are small and thin. They are about 3 mm (0.1 in) long, which is less than half an inch. They are usually yellowish-green and have wings that you can see through.

These insects like to eat the young, fresh shoots of plants. They use their mouthparts to suck out the plant's juices. When they do this, the plant's growth can slow down. The young leaves might curl up and turn yellowish-green. Eventually, the edges of the leaves can turn brown and even fall off.

How Tea Jassids Help Make Special Tea

Even though they can harm plants, tea jassids are very important for making a special kind of tea in Taiwan called dongfang meiren tea. This tea is a type of oolong tea. It has a unique taste, often described as tasting like ripe fruit and honey.

This special flavor comes from the tea leaves that the jassids have partially eaten! These insects prefer to live in warm places that are free from pollution. When they feed on the tea plants, they suck out the sap from the stems, leaves, and buds. This process makes the tea leaves create special chemicals. These chemicals are what give dongfang meiren tea its amazing and unique taste.

Because of this, some tea makers choose not to use pesticides on their tea plants. They want to encourage the tea jassids to feed on the leaves. This method is also used for other teas, like some dongding oolong tea and black teas from Taiwan's east coast. A similar process involving jassids and other tiny insects called thrips helps create the special flavor of Darjeeling tea from India.

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