"Tea Talk on Paper" No. 16: The Levels of Tea Makers, Which Level Are You At?

This is the sixteenth article of "Tea Talk on Paper".

Since 2010, I have been frequently visiting tea factories, and in recent years, I have been frequently visiting tea mountains, so I have a certain understanding of the source; often people tell me how awesome, serious, and powerful someone is at making tea. Previously, I also admired them, but through my understanding in recent years, I have formed my own views and found that they are just so-so, and even a bit disdainful. I have talked about the levels of tea makers on many occasions. Today, let me sort it out, as a summary.

Level 1: Elementary School Student

I consider those with the following characteristics as elementary school students:

1. Mainly produce single-mountain ecological or ancient tree tea, or both;
2. Produce ripe tea from a single mountain;
3. Even if blending is done, there is no stable formula, just simple mixing; the taste of the tea cannot be guaranteed to continue in the next batch;
4. Frequently change tea packaging; if it doesn't sell well, change the packaging and find a new concept to sell;
5. Launch dozens or even hundreds of teas each year; the good-selling ones are out of stock, the bad-selling ones are left in the warehouse; the next year repeats, only the name continues, quality and taste cannot stabilize;
6. Often claim to have discovered ancient tea gardens rarely visited by humans, post a bunch of pictures, share samples everywhere for tea competitions, and for secrecy, do not take fellow tea friends;
7. The oldest and purest is the lifelong pursuit; the most expensive tea is also the best-selling;

......

Take mountain tea as an example. Only making ancient tree pure material, guarding fresh leaves on each mountain, working hard to make dozens or a hundred kilograms of tea, not only without quantity, but also encountering competition and raising prices to buy fresh leaves. Complaining every year that fresh leaves are expensive but still buying, comparing who is richer and more foolish, yet claiming to be persistent, sparing no expense for quality, only for the good tea in their hearts. It enriches tea farmers, raises tea prices, shrinks consumers' pockets, and they themselves earn some money, seemingly everyone is happy. There are various rumors circulating about thousands-yuan teas being blind-tasted and losing to hundreds-yuan teas, but these tea makers turn a blind eye; as long as someone pays, I just guarantee it is pure material.

As the price of a certain mountain rises higher and higher, the following consumers can no longer afford to drink it, so they only make a little, share with tea friends, and then find new mountains to replace. New mountains enter the cycle of tea makers. The more expensive the mountain, the greater its fame, and the more consumers chase it. According to a very low probability but with a large total number, the number of consumers who do not care about price is also not small. There are always people buying, so every year it sells out. The legends of famous Pu'er mountains are refreshed every year, and new mountains and new stories appear every year, forming the unique mountain culture of Pu'er tea.

Tea friends sensitive to price are also restless, chasing those mountains that are not yet expensive but full of legends. Tea makers rush around various mountains, and during the spring tea season, hotels in Menghai are not enough, and rooms are hard to find. Tea makers compare who tells better stories, and whoever has more followers drives better cars and stays in higher-end hotels. The oldest and purest has become a topic they must talk about, and also the direction of their pursuit.

This basket of ancient tree tea fresh leaves from Laobanzhang cost me tens of thousands of yuan

Level 2: Middle School Student

Middle school tea makers have moved away from the competition of being rich and foolish. They also make ancient tree pure material, but more based on brand thinking for product planning, mainly with the following characteristics:

1. Launch products in a planned and step-by-step manner;
2. Look at the whole of Yunnan, all are optional raw material areas;
3. Only choose the right ones, not the expensive ones;
4. Making expensive ancient tree pure material products is mostly for strategic needs, to maintain the height and exposure of the product line;
5. Best-selling teas are mostly blended; even if a tea is named after a mountain, it is a blend of the entire mountain. These best-selling main teas are mostly released every year, and taste and quality can remain stable;
6. The warehouse stacks the most not finished products but raw materials;
7. Some of the raw materials in the warehouse are aged, not all made into finished products;
8. Even if someone offers a high price for old raw materials, they do not sell; they are blended into tea products in batches and planned;

......

Many big factories are not big because they have money, but because they have plans and systems, stable products recognized by consumers, that they become big factories. Most tea makers cannot upgrade to middle school level in their lifetime.

The tea king tree surrounded

Level 3: College Student

The third level, also the highest level, is my goal. It is not that the third level is much better than the second, but because the second level is suitable for those with large investments and scale, we grassroots tea makers do not have many opportunities to mix in the second level.

The main characteristics of the third level:

1. Have their own cognitive system, understand tea by drinking;
2. For unfamiliar tea areas and fields, willing to invest time and a small amount of money to understand; often make a lot of samples, but do not formally purchase;
3. Buy tea they approve of; only buy the right ones, not the expensive ones;
4. Often visit major non-Yunnan tea areas, attend various tea gatherings that are not Pu'er, and even launch a small number of non-Yunnan tea products;
5. Their vision is not limited to Yunnan; they pay attention to raw materials nationwide, and their products may also blend raw materials from other tea areas;
6. Do not strictly distinguish between black tea, green tea, oolong, yellow tea, white tea, and dark tea; make black tea with oolong techniques, make Pu'er with Longjing techniques, with no constraints in mind, believing that suitable techniques and raw materials can be used;
7. Good-tasting and healthy tea is the only pursuit, regardless of the rest;

......

Houyue Bulang Ancient醇 poster

Third-level tea makers have tea in their hearts; wherever they go, they must talk about tea. When they see food packaging, they immediately think of using it for their tea packaging; when they drink good green tea, they must go see what raw materials it is made from and how it is made; when they return to their own small plot, they also experiment to see if they can make it; the standard for judging good tea adds cost-effectiveness besides quality; product naming is not mainly based on mountains, but based on their understanding of the tea......

Third-level tea makers also have no tea in their hearts. Wine, coffee, tobacco pipes, calligraphy, painting, music, chess, reading, traveling, etc., seem to all be liked. Due to wide hobbies, they spend more than half the year not on tea, attending various non-tea gatherings everywhere, and even if they open a shop, they are not serious, displaying various things they like. They have good friends all over the country and even abroad, driving their own cars or flying, running around everywhere, leaving footprints at major scenic spots, or visiting all the good places in the consumer guide. When tired and exhausted, they quietly drink a cup of tea. After playing a circle and coming back, making tea seems to have new inspiration, and the tea seems to have new elements.

The hundred-family meal at Jingmai Mountain

This is my understanding of the three major levels of tea makers: elementary school student, middle school student, and college student. May I ask which level are you at? Or which level do you prefer?

This article is original. Reproduction must not delete this statement. The article and pictures are original. Author: Lü Jianfeng, WeChat: 673998, working at 51 Pu'er Net, initiator of Houyue Crowdfunding Tea.