Objective  A system to evaluate individual operations of the rapidly transforming tea industry in Fujian was proposed to aid the much needed managerial and service upgrading for the plantations.

  Method  With references to the indicators used on the forest and cultivated land quality evaluations as well as the results from literature search and expert interviews, 27 criteria with respect to meteorology, soil, topography, plant quality, and plantation structure/safety relating to tea cultivation operations were designed for the evaluation. Weight on each indicating criterion was determined based on the results from the returned expert questionnaires and an analytic hierarchy process. Then, by combining the relevant theories and expert opinions, scoring standards for the secondary indicators were formulated to arrive at a mathematic equation to calculate the grading on quality of tea plantations.

  Result  The weights of the primary indicators were 0.221 1 for meteorology, 0.38 for soil, 0.060 7 for topography, 0.221 1 for plant quality, and 0.117 1 for plantation structure/safety. And, there was a significant correlation between the primary indicators and the plantation quality as well as between the primary and secondary indicators.

  Conclusion  The proposed system for quality evaluation on tea plantations in the province was designed based on the past experience and careful analysis. By specialist’s scoring on the designated criteria, a grade could be calculated to indicate the operational quality of a tea plantation providing clues and recommendations for improvements and/or upgrading.