The Tea Harvest in China -- Spring 2007

The timing of our annual trip to China is always subject to change and re-scheduling according to weather conditions in China. This reflects our belief that the best teas are found in the early spring when tastes are most pronounced. So, we travel when the leaves are ready.

Traveling to a high mountain tea farm in Anhui Province.

Navigating China

Buying tea in China as we do would be a daunting, perhaps impossible task, without the relationships we have established to support us. The tea farms, markets, teashops, tea companies and business people with whom we work have come to understand our standards and our methods of sourcing and buying teas. In many ways, our methods run counter to how the tea industry works. We often buy small lots of competition grade teas ( lot weights can range from 25 to 50 to 200 kilograms) and preserve them, whereas the industry blends these teas to create larger, more marketable lots.
Generally, we travel and source our teas in six provinces – Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Yunnan and Zhejiang. As the spring weather was cooler and the harvest slower to get into full production, our travel was dictated by where tea was available. Starting in Fujian, we then went to Guangdong, back to Fujian, then to Anhui and so on. As we travel with our Chinese partners, they wonder why we go from province to province seeking out our teas when they tend to operate as if each province is an island, offering all of the tea one could possibly need.

Spring Harvest 2007

It is always a question of timing as to when one sets out for China for the harvest. Typically, we begin checking with China in early March to determine what the weather has been and what the outlook is for the harvest. From our perspective, we like to get to China early, when the first teas begin arriving in the markets. This is the time to find the highest grades of white and green.

A lot of Mao Feng purchased at a local tea market being delivered to one of our Chinese suppliers

This year, we arrived in China in late March. The weather had been intermittently warm and cool like many places in the world right now. The consensus on the ground in China was that we were too early and should have waited until the end of the first week of April. What we found, however, was some truth in that advice as well as some misdirection. In fact, there were very good teas but only in smaller quantities and not many lots each day. In other words, there was no abundance of tea. The harvest was underway but in fits and spurts. A warm day brought new teas from the farms into the markets the next day; then cooler weather followed and the flow of tea slowed.

It was interesting however, in that the tea that was available tended to be very tender and fresh. The contrasting weather, warm then cold, created nuances in taste of the leaves that was quite exciting. The teas we found tended to be very natural in taste and to have flavors found only in early-pick leaves. These nuanced tastes quickly vanish with warming weather. Often, what was required was the patience to travel and find additional lots to meet our quantity targets and yet preserve the overall quality.

The Chinese Tea Market

How the farmer or tea maker handles the leaf as it is fired will shape the leaf and define its taste.

The unique aroma and taste of the tea will result from the location, climate and soil conditions of the individual farm and the mastery of the tea farmer in his processing of the leaf.

Given the magnitude of the Chinese tea market, one can only generalize, but here are a few observations. There are some basic market shifts underway in China that will in time effect the U.S. market as we know it today. Certainly, the domestic demand for tea in China is growing rapidly. Per capita income growth is fueling local markets for tea and an increasing interest in high-quality teas. It is not unusual to hear a supplier remark that a particular tea has been made for the domestic market where only recently the export market offered the greatest potential profit. Demand for quality teas such as Tai Ping Hou Kui, Dragon Well, Mao Feng, Tieguanyin and the Dan Chong Oolongs has pushed tea prices, in certain cases, up 30 to 50 percent and higher year-to-year.

The labor structure is shifting as well. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find local pickers for the tea. Farmers and tea farms have had to increase wages to draw workers into the field. As we negotiate pricing, more than a few times we heard that the price increase has risen year-to-year due to the cost of labor.

Further compounding the rising price of tea is the devaluation of the U.S. dollar to the Chinese Yuan. In the last 12 months, the dollar has lost 5 percent of its value. Over the last 18 months, the devaluation crosses 7 percent. This trend will continue by all indications.

Pu-erh – In Vogue

It is, of course, not news to any one watching that the demand for Pu-erh teas is soaring. Stateside, we see this in the prices offered on the Web by Chinese purveyors. This “hot” market reflects the domestic demand mentioned earlier for tea. Shops selling Pu-erh have mushroomed all over China. Pricing is predictably high and increasingly, the quality spotty.

Workers in a factory making a high grade green tea, Huang Shan Mao Feng. The available labor force for tea harvest and factory work is dwindling.

The Pu-erh tempest is also being noted as the cause of some scarcity in black teas such as Yunnan Black and Yunnan Gold and predictions of a doubling in prices for these teas. Word has it that farmers are relegating their black tea leaf to Pu-erh production. From our perspective, in the last two years it has become increasingly difficult to source quality black teas out of Yunnan Province.

The strong domestic market also offers Chinese tea producers an alternative to meeting the increasing stringency and related costs of exporting teas. Begrudgingly, and now with less motivation, Chinese tea exporters grapple with European Union (EU) Compliance Standards for use of herbicides, pesticides and evidence of residual metals and USDA National Organic Program (NOP) certifications. While there is increasing acreage being committed to organic tea farms, there is certainly a countervailing opportunity to sell domestically and avoid the hassles and cost of the certification process. It will be interesting to see how China plays this hand in the near term.

Looking back over the days and weeks of sampling and tasting teas this spring, the breadth of the Chinese tea market is apparent. They produce a tremendous amount of tea using a wide, wide range of varietals and processing methods. Added to this is the diversity and variation in climate, topography and cultivation methods employed by the Chinese. The supply source, while at times seemingly imperiled, remains largely unlocked and full of opportunity for great teas.