Preface

Today, anyone who has a little knowledge of Liubao Tea will know that "Liubao Town", a place where mountains rise and fall, mountains rise and fall, trees cover, green and green like waves, has unique tea resources, which is the birthplace of Liubao Tea. Tea Valley, Erbai Tea Old Tea Lady , camellia, tea shell, longzhu tea, etc., all these constitute a variety of colorful charm of Liubao farmhouse tea. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

In recent years, with the promotion of the popularity of Liubao tea, various specifications and standards have been issued and implemented one after another, and new definitions have been made for the definition, processing and classification of Liubao tea, making farm tea look a little different. Nevertheless, farm tea is still an indispensable part of Liubao tea industry, which is dotted with Liubao tea market like stars. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

"Let's take a look at this old tea lady brick. The boss said that it has been more than 30 years." The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

"It's so lucky to finally have the chance to drink the hundred year old Six Castle Tea today." The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

"This is worm dung tea from the 1970s. It's worth it no matter how expensive it is!" The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Looking at all kinds of dried tea in the circle of friends, we are like gnawing at each other. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

In half a year, Liubao Tea House went deep into the origin of Liubao tea, visited the tea wholesale market, contacted the government, tea enterprises, tea merchants, tea associations, tea garden bases, and tea drinkers in various forms, and deeply understood the causes of the "small scattered, weak, and chaotic" industrial pattern and the suffering in it. Therefore, this article was formed from the perspective of production, supply, and marketing of Liubao farmhouse tea, Analyze the current situation of Liubao farmhouse tea and exchange views with friends who care about Liubao tea. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Today's Liubao Town, Cangwu County (Liangzhi/photo) The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

1、 Process

1. "Dull" or not?

Turning to the processing technical regulations of Liubao Tea, the production process of Liubao Maocha (also called farm tea) is as follows: Fresh leaves → blanching → initial kneading → heaping → re kneading → drying → Liubao Maocha. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

As the old tea man recalled, the previous practice was to clean, roll, stack overnight, and then dry. "Overnight stacking" is actually the prototype of the stack stuffiness mentioned above in the standard. Its principle is similar to that of the yellow tea. After the stack stuffy tea, the soup color turns yellow red, the bitter taste is reduced, and the tea soup is more mellow. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

What is the actual situation? The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

A person in charge of the cooperative told us: The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

"Stuffing is very technical, and it is not up to standard, which is easy to produce sour taste and turbid tea soup... Many people have omitted this process. Liubao tea without stuffing process may be no different from roasted green tea in essence." The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

"Some people learned from the technology of black tea, and the color and taste of the tea soup produced are closer to black tea". The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Although there are standards for technology, the production and processing of farmhouse tea still remain in the traditional small production stage. It is not surprising that different technologies are used respectively. But for the long-term development of farmhouse tea, is it a good thing or a bad thing? The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

2. Taste, "One Hundred Flavors"

If the previous article mentioned that the tea of Liubao Tea Factory is "one hundred and one hundred flavors" (related reading: dispel the fog, restore the truth - the factory tea of Liubao Tea Market Research), then the farmer tea of Liubao Tea may be "one hundred flavors". Tea lovers who are familiar with Liubao Tea Factory can generally distinguish some unique taste characteristics of big factories, while the situation of farmhouse tea is more complicated. The tea produced by the same tea maker the day before and the day after may have different taste. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The reason lies in the degree of control of the master over the process details, such as the temperature of the pot, the amount of green gas from fresh leaves, whether the leaf stems become soft, and whether they are evenly killed; The method, time and evenness of rolling; Whether the time and temperature of stuffiness are appropriate and the degree of drying will affect the color, aroma and taste of each batch of Liubao tea. Each time you make tea, these details will not be the same, and the taste will be different. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

There is a strange phenomenon in the farm tea market. The tea shop has stocked up a batch of tea, and the guests feel good about it. The next time they come back, this batch of tea has been sold out. Try other teas, and they can't find the original taste. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Liubao tea production with traditional technology (pictures from the Internet) The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

2、 Raw materials

1. History

Liubao Town has a thousand year history of tea production. At its peak, during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Liubao tea was continuously transported to Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia through an "ancient tea ship road". At that time, there were tea gardens all over Liubao Town, and every family planted tea and picked tea; In the most declining period of Liubao tea, in the 1980s and 1990s, a large number of tea gardens were abandoned and cut down, and the tea mountains were planted with slash pines one by one; It was not until 2000 that Liubao tea came back into the sight of tea lovers because of the popularity of Pu'er. Now most of the tea gardens in Liubao Town are new tea trees planted in the past decade. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Fortunately, the "Liubao Tea Group", the tea plant provenance that has grown in Liubao Town for thousands of years, has been well preserved. This may be the most conspicuous "capital" of Liubao tea, especially farm tea. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Baji Tea Garden in Liubao Town The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

2. High planting and mining costs

At present, the largest Shuanggui tea garden in Liubao Town covers an area of only 2000 mu. Most of the tea gardens are hundreds of mu, and most of them are small tea gardens owned by farmers. Liubao Town has many mountains and few terraces. Tea farmers are busy in the mountains. It is difficult to plant and pick tea. It is basically manual operation without any mechanical participation. It is extremely inefficient and labor intensive. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

On the other hand, because Liubao tea group is not a tea tree, but the general name of several tea trees, there are often several tea varieties in a tea garden. A farmer told us that in the tea picking season, we may go up the mountain to pick tea several times on the same day, because different tea trees have different germination times, and the picking time is also different. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

3. Most of the raw materials are used to make farm tea

Because of the small output, most of the fresh leaves of tea produced in the town are packaged as farm tea and sold directly after being processed into Maocha. Only a few farm tea (Maocha) will be used by tea enterprises to make factory tea (cooked tea). The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

When asked about the reason, an honest tea farmer made a metaphor: "Have you ever eaten white cut chicken? White cut chicken is very original and requires high raw materials. Only good local chicken can be used to make white cut chicken, but soy sauce chicken is different. As long as soy sauce and MSG are fully put, it is OK to use cheaper feed chicken to make it!" The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

In fact, from the perspective of local large tea enterprises, factory tea emphasizes scale and efficiency. Although Liubao group grows factory tea (cooked tea) with better taste, the overall taste difference is not particularly large after fermentation in Wodui. In addition, the cost of group planting is high, so it is rare to use groups to grow factory tea (cooked tea). The price of a small amount of factory tea (cooked tea) made by group planting is also very high. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

3、 Product

1. The price is reasonable but unreasonable

Affected by the scale and efficiency, the high cost of farm tea has led to higher prices. If the price of green tea is based on the price of green tea, not to mention the tea districts in other provinces, in terms of the region, it has been far higher than Zhaoping, Lingyun, Sanjiang and other places. The process of farm tea determines its taste. In addition to green tea, there are white tea, Shengpu and other alternative products. Consumers have a wide range of choices. Homogeneous competition is fierce, and even the same origin of factory tea (cooked tea) has also developed light fermented factory tea to cater to tea lovers who like fresh style tea. The taste is also quite close to farm tea. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

On the contrary, it is a special category of farm tea - Frost Old Tea Lady. Because of its unique and distinctive taste style, it is loved by many consumers. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Frost Descending Tea Lady The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

2. High quality does not mean good taste

Liubao Town has simple folk customs. The advantage of small production is that farmyard manure and organic manure are widely used, and no pesticides are used. In the cooperative, we saw the fresh leaves handed in by tea farmers, which did not sell well. Some of them were insect bites. The person in charge explained that it was because no pesticides were applied during the planting process that the tea was bitten by insects. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Liubao tea tree has always used tea and fruit breeding for sexual reproduction The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The mountains in Liubao Town are high and the valleys are deep, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and the clouds in the mountains produce good tea. The tea leaves produced here are long and thick, rich in contents, and high in polyphenols. Good ecological environment and planting methods in the agricultural era determine the high quality of tea. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

High quality tea often cannot be equated with good drinking. Due to the high content of polyphenols in the tea planted by Liubao tea group, the newly made farm tea has an obvious bitter taste, which is unacceptable to many tea lovers, but they think it is not good. This is indeed an embarrassing reality. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

It is generally believed that only after at least 5 years of natural aging can farm tea obtain a relatively palatable taste. The owner of a large tea garden said that his tea garden began to produce tea in mass production in 2012, but until now, five years later, the tea has been stored in the warehouse every year to wait for a better taste. The owner of the tea garden is naturally rich and headstrong, which is undoubtedly an insurmountable barrier for most tea farmers and consumers who cannot afford to wait. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Comparison of the color of farmhouse tea and cooked tea, farmhouse tea on the right The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

4、 Concept

1. Ancient method

The word "ancient method" is not mentioned in any book about the standards or norms of Liubao tea. The ancient tea making skills of Liubao Town are basically lost. The essence of the ancient method now mentioned, namely, farm tea, is of course the post fermentation process of double steaming and double pressing is called the ancient method, which is even more strange. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The word "ancient law" was proposed, probably because the business felt that the word "farmhouse" was too local, so the concept of "ancient law" came into being. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

2. Pure handwork

In the traditional farming era, tea making was always done manually, which was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive physical work. However, in Liubao Town, whether it was a cooperative or a small family workshop, the tea making process was basically semi mechanized, and equipment such as a green remover and a rolling machine were widely used. The dry tea strips of hand-made tea are long and strong, and their appearance is not good, while the dry tea strips of semi mechanized tea are thin and tight, and their appearance is better, which is more suitable for commercialization. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

A person in charge of the cooperative who insists on pure hand-made tea told us that their hand-made tea is expensive and low in output, and their main sales channels are based on word of mouth from friends, which is really difficult to expand. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

3. High mountains, wild, ancient trees

There is no unified altitude statement for high mountain tea. The mainstream understanding in the industry is that only tea produced in tea gardens with an altitude of more than 1000 meters can be called high mountain tea. The altitude of tea mountain in Liubao Town is about 500 meters or less. This is different from the true definition of alpine tea. It is obvious that the original Liubao tea can not reach this height. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Another situation is that it is really high mountain tea, but it is not the raw material of Liubao Town. It may come from other tea districts. It is only produced by the initial processing technology of Liubao tea and sold under the name of "high mountain tea". The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Wild tea refers to tea trees that have not been cultivated and domesticated. According to experts' research, Liubao original tea trees have a very long history of wild. At present, most of the wild tea on the market is of cultivation type, and its tea quality is very strong. Because it is picked from the mountain, the stored wild tea will have uneven tea bottom. It should be said that the wild Liubao tea does exist, but there is no statistical data on its stock. Due to the scarcity of picking cost and stock, the price is also extremely high. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Ancient trees refer to tea trees that have survived for more than 100 years. In some "bone ash level" tea friends' concepts, tea trees must be more than 300 years old to be called ancient trees. At present, many ancient tea trees with a trunk diameter of 50 cm have been found in many places of Liubao. Experts estimate that the age of the trees is more than 700 years. Like wild tea, ancient tree tea exists but its output is scarce. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Ancient Tree Six Castle Tea The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Whether it is high mountain tea, wild tea or ancient tree tea, they all have a common feature, that is, people are rarely visited, the output is very small, and consumers do not have strong professional knowledge and experience, so it is difficult to distinguish. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

5、 Market

1. Industrial chain

Tea farmers: tea produced and sold by themselves in a pure workshop is purchased by tea merchants, cooperatives or tea enterprises, which is basically operated as primary agricultural products. We interviewed a local official, one mu tea garden, whose annual tea production is only dozens of jin. For ordinary farmers, it is limited to help them improve their income. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Tea merchants: The composition is relatively complex. There are local tea shops, tea shops, and tea merchants from other places. They will purchase tea from farmers in the village, basically pricing according to the quality, and there is no fixed target for purchase. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Cooperatives: Some farmers with foresight and channels have taken the lead to establish cooperatives. Cooperatives own tea gardens and will also purchase tea from surrounding farmers according to certain quality requirements. Some cooperatives have their own brands and SC permits. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

▲ Production environment of a cooperative in Liubao Town The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

Tea enterprises: There are few tea enterprises that purely make farm tea. Most tea enterprises do both factory tea and farm tea, and their business models and cooperatives are similar to each other. In terms of product packaging, they will pay more attention to some concepts. In terms of channel construction, they will be more professional and invest more. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

2. Market chaos

Although the quality of real farm tea is excellent, for the purpose of maximizing profits, there is no lack of fraud in the circulation market. Unlike cooked tea, farm tea has different processes, different tastes, and opaque prices, leading to more market chaos than cooked tea. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

The market is flooded by means of false reporting of the year, counterfeiting of the original seed, wet storage and old making, etc. It is not too much to describe the water pit. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

In Liubao Town, a person in charge of the cooperative said that they had always had stores in the wholesale and retail market in the urban area, but over the past few years, their business has become more and more bleak, and they can't compete for the price. They can't do anything that goes against their conscience. Later, they simply withdrew the store, concentrated on the quality control in the tea garden, and delivered goods directly from the origin to customers. At present, they have won the trust of many customers. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

3. Promotion method

Rural tea is still promoted in the traditional way, relying on wholesale markets, frequent customers, public praise, tourists and other channels. A small number of enterprises develop dealer networks. Most of the customer groups are concentrated in Guangdong and Guangxi regions, and few are promoted through e-commerce. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

In the exchange with tea friends, we found that there are not a few people who pursue farm tea, and they almost get the gift from acquaintances. Because they feel special after drinking, they suffer from being unable to buy in the local market. However, there are too few online farm tea shops, and they can not establish trust relations without knowing the quality, so they are in a wait-and-see state and can not become real customers. This is the current situation that the promotion channel of farmhouse tea is too single: there is demand, but transformation cannot be realized. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

epilogue

Throughout the visits to tea enterprises, cooperatives and tea farmers, what farmers lack is a real management system. Whether it is small and refined or large-scale development is related to industrial issues. How the government advocates, whether the process can be unified, and how the development strategies of cooperatives and enterprises respond to market adjustment are all problems that must be faced. The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html

(In order to protect the rights and interests of the interviewees, we have dealt with the characters and dialogues involved in the article.) The article originates from the Baojia Liubao Tea- http://www.lbczj.cn/15779.html