"Tea Talk on Paper" No. 29: Biographies of Tea Masters ③

This is the twenty-ninth article in my "Tea Talk on Paper" series, and the third in the Biographies of Tea Masters series. The biographies are short profiles; I have completed all twenty-six letters, and future installments will be numbered. Stay tuned. Here are the previous two articles:

"Tea Talk on Paper" No. 22: Biographies of Tea Masters ①

"Tea Talk on Paper" No. 26: Biographies of Tea Masters ②

Main text begins!

Tea Master Biography S

S has been making tea for over ten years, has some reputation, and is very arrogant, often believing his tea is the best and others' are rubbish.

One day, S visited his distributor Xiao Huang. S valued Xiao Huang and planned to cultivate him, intending for Xiao Huang to stop selling other people's tea.

S arrived unannounced. There were no other customers in the shop. Xiao Huang happened to be brewing tea. Without changing the tea, he poured a cup for S. S took a casual sip, immediately spat it into the trash can, and cursed: "What rubbish tea! It's awful, almost killing me." Xiao Huang was extremely embarrassed but had to respond, so he whispered, "Teacher, this is your tea." S replied without changing his expression: "Is that so? Let me see."

S took over the main brewing spot, asked Xiao Huang for the tea cake, and re-pried, brewed, rinsed, and poured the tea himself. He took a slow sip, closed his eyes and savored it for a long time, then exhaled and said to Xiao Huang: "Good tea! Comfortable! Xiao Huang, your brewing skills need more practice with me. I brewed such good tea, but you ruined it." Then S began to talk at length about how good his tea was, trying to persuade Xiao Huang to sell only his tea.

Tea Master Biography T

T is considered an old hand in the tea industry. He ran a tea website and a tea newspaper. Over the years, he didn't become extremely wealthy, but he supported a group of people, with his wife and daughter around him, living a fairly comfortable life.

In 2013, T began taking out large bank loans. The first time, he borrowed five million yuan using his company's cash flow. The intermediary first helped T buy a house and a car. After deducting the car and house payments and fees, T still had over three million yuan. T expanded his staff and upgraded his website. For a time, T's people were everywhere in the tea market. The most impressive was his partnership in a small loan company, which was making money hand over fist. During that period, T seemed to walk with a spring in his step, full of ambition, quite the successful businessman.

Later, T mentioned that he had borrowed several more million from other banks and started cooperating with tea enterprises to make his own brand of tea. He was recruiting people and bustling with activity. He also borrowed from various sources and cooperated with other small loan companies, earning tens of thousands in interest daily. T bought a second car and planned to move to a bigger house and make higher-end tea.

In 2016, T began borrowing money everywhere. According to rumors, not a cent of the small loan company's money could be recovered.

Later, I heard that T's car and house were seized and auctioned. That year, I saw T from a distance once; he was extremely thin.

Tea Master Biography U

In the spring of 2012, in Mahé Village, Yiwu, Mr. Li from Kunming dropped by the home of tea farmer U. U was very enthusiastic, quickly brewed tea, and told his wife to kill a chicken and cook a meal.

U had just finished drying his ancient tree tea. After drinking it, Li felt it was satisfactory. When he asked the price, it wasn't too high. Li ordered 5 pieces (50 kg) from U, but didn't pay a deposit. Li wrote his phone number in U's notebook and said he would tour other places in Yiwu for two or three days, then return to pick up the tea before leaving. After eating, Li left with a large bag of tea samples U had given him.

Li was delayed by other matters and didn't go to pick up the tea until over a week later. U said, "You've come! I tried calling you many times but couldn't get through. Someone wanted to buy the tea in the meantime, but since I had promised you, I was embarrassed to sell it. I was getting anxious..." Li muttered, "That's impossible, my phone has been on," while flipping through U's notebook. He found that the phone number was indeed wrong by one digit.

From then on, Li went to U's home every year, often with a group of tea-making friends. Li and his friends ate many of U's chickens and bought a lot of U's tea.

Tea Master Biography V: The Beautiful Tea Artisan

Why is your face so red? Qiang Ge asked me after we came out.

Today, Qiang Ge took me to a tea house. The decoration was antique, with sandalwood incense wafting, a small bridge over flowing water, and the sound of guqin music. It was a very professional old tea house, making me, who has been in the tea business for over ten years, feel ashamed.

The hostess was a beautiful woman in flowing Tang-style clothing, a professional tea person, said to have studied tea in Japan. She led us to sit at a tea table made entirely of Hainan huanghuali wood. She first took water from a blue-and-white porcelain jar, poured it into a precious old iron kettle, and placed it on a charcoal stove to boil. Then she climbed up to take down an old sandalwood box, took out an aged tea cake, gently pried the tea with her delicate hands, and weighed it on a small scale.

When the water boiled, she took out a blue-and-white covered bowl from the Ming Dynasty, rinsed the tea with water, and placed Ming Dynasty blue-and-white tasting cups in front of us. While busy, she introduced that this was a decades-old tea that was extremely rare on the market, and that she had only taken it down from the high shelf because Qiang Ge had come. Her movements were gentle, her speech soft. What a lovely tea server.

After rinsing the tea, she first served us a cup of plain water, and then waited about ten minutes before brewing the tea. From the time we entered until we drank the tea, it must have been about half an hour, making me quite thirsty.

The beauty poured the tea and handed it to me. I couldn't wait to raise the cup and took a big sip. A strong flavor of BHC pesticide hit me. I couldn't spit it out, so I held it in, my face turning red. I had to swallow it, and my throat itched unbearably, causing me to cough dryly for a while. After that, I made an excuse that my body wasn't suitable for tea today.

I replied to Qiang Ge, "The weather is too stuffy today."

W is from the north and has been making tea for many years.

One spring tea season, W came to a village in a tea area in Yunnan. After inspecting, he was very pleased.

W said to the tea farmer, "Don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers in the tea garden. We tea makers prefer original ecology. Go organize these ecological teas for me. I don't want any with pesticides or fertilizers." W paid a deposit and ordered a batch of ecological good tea.

A few days later, W came to collect the goods. He scolded the tea farmer harshly: "Why is this so ugly? The leaves are yellow, skinny, and have insect holes... This one next to it looks good, green and lush, thick, with big buds. How much is this?"

W loaded a whole truck of the good-looking tea from the village, at a price more than half cheaper than expected. W was satisfied, burping with a belly full of free-range chicken and local liquor, saying he would come again next year.

After seeing W off, the tea farmer said to his wife, "We need to buy more pesticides and fertilizers, and use them on the neglected tea gardens too."

Tea Master Biography X

X is from the south and came to Yunnan, which is further south and west, to make tea.

X previously had a small tea shop in his hometown, but it wasn't doing well. He realized that for Pu'er tea, Yunnan offered more opportunities, so he closed the shop and came to Yunnan. He didn't open a shop but spent his time in Kunming and Xishuangbanna, occasionally trading tea.

After spending time drinking tea in Kunming, he met Mr. Li, who had been making tea in the Xishuangbanna tea area for many years and had a shop in Kunming. X realized that his knowledge of tea was far behind Mr. Li's, and his business was nowhere near as good. X envied the group of experienced tea enthusiasts around Mr. Li.

Through a series of maneuvers and coincidences, X seized an opportunity to formally become Mr. Li's apprentice. Thus, Mr. Li became Teacher Li.

Teacher Li shared everything he knew, taking X to all the ancient six tea mountains, introducing him to people around him, tea farmers on the mountains, and various connections. When guests came, he didn't avoid X. Of course, X was very dedicated. Whatever Teacher Li's business was, X treated it as his own. He served as driver, cleaned, brewed tea, and carried tea, never sparing effort. For a time, X and Teacher Li became a model master-apprentice pair, admired by all.

But no flower blooms for a hundred days.

Teacher Li suddenly noticed that X rarely came to the tea shop. When he called, X often declined, and even when he came, he would stay briefly and leave hurriedly. Some regular customers also stopped coming to the shop. The shop assistant said she heard X had opened his own shop, and his tea was better and cheaper.

Teacher Li became Mr. Li again. When Mr. Li could see X, it was usually at the homes of tea farmers that Mr. Li had introduced to X. Later, some tea farmers tactfully told Mr. Li that they had no tea left; X had bought it all.

Later, Mr. Li heard from others that there was a master named X who had been making tea for over ten years, living in the Xishuangbanna tea area, traveling through the ancient six mountains, deeply involved for many years, and was a very powerful master. Crucially, he was very popular, with a large group of wealthy fan customers.

Later, some people would ask Mr. Li if he had studied tea with X, since they had similar knowledge and views, similar products, and even many shared customers. Mr. Li would usually sit upright and reply, "I don't know him."

Tea Master Biography Y

Y is a well-known tea expert in Yunnan. He can often be seen at many tea-related events, always seated in important positions, often in the center of the stage.

In 2013, at a tea gathering, I happened to sit next to Y. That was my first time meeting him. I had heard of him before as a famous old expert in the tea industry. That time, I said some flattering words and exchanged phone numbers with Y.

At the end of 2013, Y called me and talked for a long time. I mostly just said "mm-hmm." The gist of Y's call was that before Bingdao tea became famous, he had collected a lot of it, several tons in total. As a university professor, he was still young (this was strange, because Y was already quite old then, and I was only in my thirties, so how could he be young?), and it wasn't convenient for him to sell tea personally. He wanted me to help him sell it. These teas were good, and many people were chasing them. He had been researching tea for decades, had students everywhere, and could help drive traffic to my 51 Pu'er website... He went on and on about how great he was and how influential, and that cooperating with him was a great opportunity for me. If I was interested, we could discuss details...

I have always disliked people who brag right off the bat, and I still do. But that time, I hung up politely. However, Y never heard from me.

The next time I saw Y was in 2015, at a brand tea recommendation event. Y was again seated at the main table, and I was in the audience. The event had invited a bunch of people, including a relatively professional host. First, they introduced the new tea, then brewed it. The tea artisan first emptied the cups of the people at the main table, including Y's, then brewed the new tea and served it. As the tea artisan was pouring, the host asked Y to say a few words. A magical scene occurred: Y raised his empty cup (the tea artisan hadn't served him yet) and said in a loud voice, "I am very honored to attend this tea gathering... This tea has a charming and elegant aroma, a bright yellow liquor, and a sweet taste..." Instantly, my ears turned red...

After that, I almost never attended such tea gatherings, and I never saw Y again.

Tea Master Biography Z

I have known Z for quite a long time, but we basically have no business dealings. Z's usual work is to hang around Menghai, trading raw materials, often selling one family's materials to another. I started building a factory in Menghai in 2017, so I had more contact with Z. Z would often come by to chat, tell me some news from Menghai, and incidentally promote some tea.

Once, Z called me, saying he wanted to bring me a ripe tea to taste. It was fermented very well, with good raw materials, and he said I would definitely like it. I knew Z was always around, so maybe he had found something good. I looked forward to waiting for Z at my Menghai shop.

When Z arrived, I started brewing the ripe tea he brought. The more I brewed it, the more familiar it became. It was especially like my first batch of ripe tea. That batch was experimental, with a strong fungal aroma, soft and fine liquor, and slightly cloudy color—very distinctive. After 7-8 infusions, I was almost certain, so I asked Z if he had gotten the sample from Mr. L. Z was surprised and said, "How did you know?"

I replied, "This is my tea. Because it had just come out of the pile, I only gave a sample to Mr. L."

View more articles in the Biographies of Tea Masters series: Table of Contents for Biographies of Tea Masters