Tea Talks on Paper #26: Biographies of Tea Masters ②

This is the 26th article in my "Tea Talks on Paper" series, and the second in the Biographies of Tea Masters series, which will cover all 26 letters. Check out the previous installment here: Tea Talks on Paper #22: Biographies of Tea Masters ①.

Biography J

J is from Taiwan, loves high-priced auctions of various gold-medal tea kings, from Xiangzhuqing to Luoshui Cave, under the flash, spending money like water, only buying the most expensive.

J won the first-place "Tea King" Luoshui Cave tea, 4kg, at a sky-high price of 200,000 yuan, spending a total of 800,000 yuan, then went into the village to buy up all the other Luoshui Cave tea from the tea farmers who made the award-winning tea...

The unsold award-winning teas, the endless stream of sky-high priced tea kings, and J, became a spectacle in the tea industry.

Biography K

A student called and asked: "Teacher, why is the tea I bought from you last time not as good as when I had it at your place? I don't feel anything when I drink it."

Teacher K slowly and methodically replied: "Is that so? How did you brew it? What water did you use?... How's the weather today? Has it changed?... How have you been feeling lately? How's your sleep? Have you been getting inflamed these past couple of days?... Have you been staying up late? How's your sleep? Have you been drinking alcohol recently?... How did you store the tea when you took it back? Did it absorb any odors or go bad?... Did you wake the tea? How did you wake it?... And finally, tea can be hard to drink at certain stages; you need to give it time..."

The call lasted several minutes, K spoke at a slow pace, often pausing for a few seconds, with the student exclaiming several times in between. Finally, the student apologized profusely for disturbing the teacher, promised to take good care of their health and drink the tea properly, and vowed to bring friends to learn from the teacher and buy tea. The student hung up in utter admiration...

Houyue Tea Gathering under the 2015 Lao Banzhang Tea King Tree

Biography L

L has written a few books and, of course, sells tea. Everyone calls him Teacher L.

One day, a student asked: "Teacher, why is it that no matter how I brew the ancient tree tea I bought, I can't find the same feeling I had when I drank it on the mountain?"

L chuckled lightly and said: "This is the charm of Pu'er tea! One mountain, one flavor; one village, one flavor; one tree, one flavor; even one leaf, one flavor! What you drank then naturally won't taste the same as what you took back. Of course, maybe what you're drinking now is worse, but after a while, what you drink might be much better than your first taste. You have to trust me, give the tea time. Isn't that so?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Teacher L, I was being presumptuous..."

Biography M

M has run a tea shop for ten years. Previously sold Dayi, and started doing ancient tree tea from 2011.

In early April, M put up a poster outside the shop:

New tea arrival / new arrival,

Inside the shop, many new raw teas were displayed, with a featured tea T in a cardboard box placed right in the center, less than 2 meters from the entrance.

In the morning, a group from the north saw T and were excited, immediately asking the Hani girl in the shop to brew T. After three rounds of tea, someone from the north said: "It's a bit bitter, is this Lao Banzhang?" M raised his thumb and said: "Impressive! This is indeed the newly picked Lao Banzhang ancient tree tea..." The northern group all bought some at a high price, totaling over ten kilograms, and left happily.

In the afternoon, Taiwanese people came and asked if T was Yiwu tea. M agreed, saying it was indeed Yiwu ancient tree tea. The Taiwanese also bought several dozen kilograms at a high price and left.

In the evening, people from Guangdong came to drink tea, found T sweet and refreshing, and asked if it was Bingdao tea. M also agreed, saying it was Bingdao ancient tree tea. The Guangdong group happily bought over a hundred kilograms at a high price.

...

According to the girl in M's shop, M sold several tons of small-tree tea worth only dozens of yuan per kilogram at over a thousand yuan, and it wasn't enough to sell, telling customers to come early next year.

Biography N

N sells tea in a tea market in Kunming. Started with buying and reselling for over a year, didn't make money, barely covered rent. Then, with advice from a fellow townsman, started selling fake Dayi in 2006. Relying on a sharp mind and quick feet, the key was speed; never held too much stock, only sourcing from suppliers when a buyer wanted it. In two years, N made a fortune, and even the 2007 Pu'er crash didn't affect N. That Spring Festival, N thought, after selling so much fake Dayi, should buy a real one to collect and use as gifts for relatives. So, N found an authorized Dayi dealer and bought a carton of tea, dragged it back to the shop, and upon opening it, N cursed: "Damn it, it's fake!"

Biography O

O is a good friend of mine for many years, also in the tea business.

One spring, O came to Xishuangbanna, and I hosted a dinner, also inviting some local tea colleagues, including a young woman named Ali. O and Ali sat next to each other, chatted happily, and added each other on WeChat.

That evening, while drinking tea, O asked if I had any Hekai ancient tree raw tea. I said no, that year I only made Hekai small-tree tea.

A few days later, Ali bought my Hekai small-tree tea.

The next day, O brought a Hekai ancient tree tea he had bought and asked me to try it. As soon as I drank it, I said, "Isn't this my Hekai small-tree tea?!"

A small path in the tea mountains

Biography P

P calls himself a teacher, claiming to be proficient in tea art and tea ceremony, especially skilled in tea tasting, knowing the quality of any Pu'er at a sip. It's known that P has taught at several tea training classes and indeed has many students.

One day, at a tea market in Kunming, I accompanied P to a tea shop. As soon as we entered, P started chatting with the girl at the counter, boasting about his illustrious experiences, his deep knowledge of tea, his seniority, and that he was very familiar with the shop owner, just that she hadn't seen him before. I was new to the industry then and couldn't distinguish raw from ripe tea well. I was dazzled as P asked the girl for a bunch of tea samples, filling a large handbag, some half-cakes broken off. Soon, the owner arrived, and P didn't even recognize him.

Once, when I was drinking tea in the shop, P happened to come in. I casually poured him a cup of plain water and handed it to him. He took a sip, drank it all, then praised it profusely, talking about the flavor, saying it was a bit light but had good salivation, aftertaste, and charm... I didn't know how to respond.

After that, I didn't see P for several years, and I missed him.

Biography Q

Q switched to tea mid-career but had a natural talent, quickly gaining fame in the industry. He wrote beautiful regular script, was handsome, and quite charming.

One spring, a beautiful woman, A Xia, came to Kunming from Shanghai, drawn by Q's reputation, carrying over 500,000 yuan to become Q's distributor. Q was smitten, talked all sorts of nonsense, discoursed on life, after tea went to KTV, spent several days, and finally won A Xia over. For a time, they were deeply in love, very happy.

Good times don't last. When A Xia returned to Kunming, she shipped a whole truckload of tea from Q without paying a cent. At parting, Q reluctantly instructed her to come back to Kunming as soon as she settled things, looking forward to meeting again.

Q in Kunming is still there, but A Xia never returned.

A few years later, after dealing with several batches of debt collectors, Q took a sip of tea and thought to himself, why can't I get in touch with A Xia and Xiao Hong?

51 Pu'er Online Store

Biography R

I had long heard of R's reputation but had never met him.

The first time I met R was at a tea gathering. Five people sat in a circle, with R as the main brewer and speaker. The gathering required sitting upright and silence. I was invited, and at that time I only ran 51 Pu'er, an e-commerce approach, rarely attending tea gatherings. I found this gathering particularly novel, looking at R with anticipation and admiration.

R first placed a tea bowl in front of each of us—truly a bowl, with a capacity of over 200cc. R unhurriedly rinsed the tea, brewed two infusions in a large gaiwan, then poured us each a bowl mostly full of tea liquor, asking us to drink it all. During this, he recited the first line of Lu Tong's Seven Bowls of Tea poem, then talked about tea for a few minutes. I gulped down the tea; it tasted okay.

Then, every 6-8 minutes, another infusion was served. By the fifth infusion, I couldn't drink anymore, but R recited the corresponding line of the poem, talked about tea, and then quietly waited for everyone to finish all the tea liquor. We had no choice but to drink it all.

At the seventh infusion, after reciting the poem and talking about tea, R waited for us all to finish, then asked if we were sweating and felt extremely comfortable and relaxed. He then concluded, saying this was the power of this tea, and declared the gathering over.

I didn't notice if I was sweating; I just felt a desperate need to pee. As soon as the gathering ended, I rushed out to find a restroom.

After that, whenever I heard about R's tea gatherings, I avoided them. Later, I often heard colleagues talk about R, saying he was very famous in Shandong with many fans, and that R's Seven Bowls Tea Gathering model was very successful.

The number seven is interesting: acid-base balance is seven, the sun has seven planets, lovers meet on Qixi, a week has seven days, and tea is drunk in seven big bowls. It seems Lu Tong had a large tea capacity, or perhaps we misunderstood Lu Tong?

I once experimented by drinking seven bowls of hot water, and indeed I sweated profusely.

Images and article are original. Author: Lü Jianfeng, WeChat: 673998, working at 51 Pu'er Online, initiator of Houyue Crowdfunding Tea.

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