The phrase “All the tea in China” has long been used to denote something of epic proportions and not without good reason. In terms of variety, there are literally over a thousand and every year, if not harvest season, there seems to be new varieties or resurrected historical varieties that emerge from the fray.
Some get buried by the wayside but others suddenly gain a rabid following in China. Whichever the case, you will seldom see them being offered on our site. In fact, with the possible exception of Golden Oolong- which essentially is Zhushan Qingxin- at point of writing, most of our teas have a history that can be measured in decades if not centuries.
This is not because we are slow to adapt to the market or stoically embrace the dogmatism of tradition. In fact, each time we go on a China sourcing trip, we bring back some newly emerged variety of tea to try, some of them are pretty interesting- it’s just that we are wary of offering them on our shelves so soon.
Let me explain our skepticism:
Motivation behind the Innovation
As the old adage goes, necessity is the mother of invention. The increasing affluence of China- a GDP per capita that has increased 14 fold since economic reforms from 1978-2007 (see here)- coupled with the snob appeal of traditional stalwarts such as ‘Shifeng Longjing’, ‘Da Hong Pao’ and the like means that an established farmer or producer scarcely needs to think of ways of increasing their sales.
If anything, their freshly produced teas will be snapped up by eagerly waiting hordes. The notion that a top Chinese producer would be sitting in their farms waiting for a visitor to chance upon their wares and save them from the tyranny of middlemen is a myth. You can read more about this here and here.
What this means is that, the motivation for top producers to innovate is hardly compelling.
Grading of New Varieties
If you’re dealing with a new variety like say Gansu Longjing- which I just made up but could conceivably exist- then you might not be able tell if certain notes are ‘supposed’ to be there.
Why does this matter?
Taste, taste, taste. If you like the taste, what does it matter?
If that’s your attitude towards purchasing, there are lots of folks who would like to sell their ‘Lao Ban Zhang’ or ‘Da Hong Pao’ or ‘Shifeng Longjing’ to you at unbelievable, attractive prices.
Which brings me to the next point.
Valuation
When I pay $10 for a tea, my expectation is different from if you paid say $50. If I paid $50, I expect ‘yun’, ‘qi’, mouth feel and above all, to be moved by it. If on the other hand I paid $10, I am quite happy if it has hui gan, can do be steeped at least 3 times and does nothing extraordinary- good or bad.
For example, Silver Needles generally cost 1.5 to 2 times as much as White Peony.
If we are talking a new variety, all bets are off.
If you are buying 100g of tea for personal consumption, you can just suck it up and move on- unless you paid for ‘Dahongpao from the mother tree’.
But if you’re a vendor purchasing 10 kg or more, either you’re in deep trouble or if ethics is an archaic term to you, you look for a bigger sucker.
That is not to say it won’t happen with an established variety- remember the Pu-er bubble- just lowering the odds.
Tradition Wisdom
Before we are so quick to dismiss established tea masters as being dated and ignorant of latest developments, it might be wise to examine the reason why things have been done in a certain manner in the past.
It’s not to say tradition always works. How tea is produced today is markedly different from Lu Yu’s time for example. We don’t use powdered tea (except matcha) nor are green teas primarily steamed-dried (except in Japan). Tea has evolved considerably since the Tang Dynasty.
However before that, an understanding of why it was done in the old ways is necessary. For example Silver Needles are produced in Fujian only once a year, in early April. That is not because of backwardness or lack of knowledge. Silver Needles are considered the highest grade of white tea and the first pickings of spring contain the most nutrients, making it the only grade worthy for production into Silver Needles. Subsequent harvest- notably autumn- the bush is picked but made into White Peony or Shou Mei but not considered good enough for Silver Needles even theoretically you can do so.
Some marketers claim that innovation allowed them to produce Second Flush Silver Needles, a claim that is only true if lowering the bar is considered a form of innovation.
However…..
And there are always two sides to every situation. As I said repeatedly, we are not opposed to innovation. In fact there are some new varieties that we love such as Hong Jin Gui. Procuring it and being one of the first potential sucker is another thing altogether.
When the market has stabilized for certain varieties and the demand and trends have been established, we would be happy to offer them, if they meet the bar.
Just not about to hop on a bandwagon and set ourselves up to be the second biggest sucker.
