As one of the core birthplaces of tea plants in the world, the annual comprehensive output value of tea in Yunnan Province reaches 110 billion yuan. The small tea leaves clearly record the long history and also pin people's expectations for a better life.
The widely acclaimed Icelandic tea, after hundreds of years of wind and rain, from little known to famous, has gradually become a pillar industry that drives the masses in Mengku Town, Shuangjiang County, Lincang City, to increase their income and become rich and the local rural revitalization.
In this issue of Pioneer Dialogue, Yunling Pioneer All-Media Reporter takes you into the Icelandic Village, tastes Icelandic tea together, and feels the long-standing tea culture.
What is the current state of Icelandic tea development?
Daolin, Deputy Governor of Shuangjiang County People's Government:
According to the "Brief History of the Shuangjiang Dai People", in the twenty-first year of Ming Chenghua (1485), the Mengku Dai tusi Han Tingfa sent people to plant tea tree seeds in the village of Mengku Iceland. The first generation of cultivation of more than 150 plants, transplanted that year, more than ten years later, the tea mother tree gradually grew, flowering, fruit, and then continue to breed and develop, becoming the ancestor of today's Mengku large-leaf tea.
At present, the Icelandic village committee of Mengku Town has a total tea area of 14,459 mu, a harvestable area of 13,354 mu, 77,022 ancient tea trees more than 100 years old, and 16,857 ancient tea trees more than 500 years old. In the first half of 2022, the maximum purchase price of spring tea leaves in Icelandic villages has reached 20,000 yuan / kg.
△ Icelandic village in front of the unified relocation to the Icelandic town
How did the regional brand "Iceland" come about step by step?
Zeng Haiqian, Director of Shuangjiang County Local Industrial Development Service Center:
In 2013, Icelandic Laozhai tea was selected as the "Chinese National Tea Business Card" and was known as the "Queen of Iceland", and since then, Icelandic Laozhai tea has become famous. In the 2014 Icelandic Spring Tea Auction, the average price of Icelandic Laozhai Spring Tea sold for 20,000 yuan per kilogram, with a total turnover of 1,000,600 yuan. In the 2018 China (Guangzhou) International Tea Industry Expo National Famous Tea Quality Competition, "Iceland Old Village" won the gold medal. In 2019, "Icelandic Gold Bar" was named Lincang's "Top Ten Famous Teas". In 2021, the picking rights of "Icelandic Tea King" were sold for 1.66 million yuan, "Icelandic Old Village" and "Icelandic Gold Bars" were permanently collected by the brand physical archives of Yunnan Provincial Archives, and "Iceland Five Stars" won the gold medal in the 11th International Dingcheng Tea King Competition of "China Tea Cup".
△ Tourists visit the Icelandic Tea Tree King
Icelandic tea is good, where is it good?
Knife forest: Icelandic tea one bud three-leaf hundred buds weigh 137.6g. The amino acid content of spring bud one bud and two leaves is 3.4%, the content of tea polyphenols is 35.1%, the caffeine is 4.9%, the total amount of catechins is 16.7%, and the water extract is 48.1%. Compared with foreign teas, Icelandic tea has 3 to 5 percentage points higher water extract, 5 to 10 percentage points higher tea polyphenols, and 30 to 60 mg higher catechin content per gram, so the coordination of Icelandic tea is better than that of other local teas, forming a unique quality style. Icelandic tea is particularly strong, sweet and strong, is an excellent raw material for processing Pu'er tea, its cord is thick, the bud peak is proud, the aroma is pure and soft, the tea soup hangs in a cup for a long time, the soup color is apricot yellow and translucent, under normal circumstances, after 3 to 5 seconds after the entrance, there will be a feeling of raw jin, repeated tasting, cheek teeth to leave incense.
△ The ancient Icelandic tea tree has reached the age of more than 600 years
What are the main measures taken to protect Iceland's ancient tea plants?
Li Yingbi, Secretary of the Party Group of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Shuangjiang County:
Shuangjiang County took the lead in promulgating and implementing the regulations on the protection and management of ancient tea trees in the province, formulated the implementation rules, and delineated the protected area with the concentrated contiguous ancient tea trees as the core, of which the municipal ancient tea tree resource protection area has 59 pieces of 8,000 mu; The representative 13,600 icelandic ancient tea trees were protected by "one tree and one yard"; Strengthen publicity for the protection of ancient tea trees and prohibit over-picking; Strengthen the rectification of illegal construction in and around ancient tea gardens; Special actions to crack down on illegal acts such as illegal acts such as illegal harvesting, indiscriminate cutting of wild ancient tea trees, and deforestation and planting tea have effectively protected the resources of ancient tea trees. At the same time, it also issued the "Mengku Large-leaf Tea Tree-type Tea Plantation Management Technical Regulations", which carried out scientific and reasonable planning and layout of Icelandic tea gardens, strengthened the management and protection of tea gardens, and promoted the sustainable and healthy development of the tea industry in Icelandic villages.
△ Each ancient tea tree has achieved digital listing protection
Quality is the life of the product, in the production of Icelandic tea, how do you control the quality? How does product sales work?
Zeng Haiqian:
In the process of tea processing, actively supervise and guide enterprises to implement relevant national standards. At present, it is mainly produced in the two forms of loose tea and compacted tea, and the production of loose tea is carried out in accordance with the GB/T 14456.2-2018 (China Large Leaf Tea National Food Standard), and the production of compact tea is carried out in accordance with the GB/T 9833.6-2013 (National Standard for Compacted Tea). Of course, in the specific production process, some technical standards will also be involved, which belong to the trade secrets of the enterprise.
Relying on the Yunnan Tea Evaluation and Testing Traceability Center, Lincang Pu'er Tea Traceability Platform, etc., we apply for an exclusive two-dimensional code by the enterprise for each cake of Icelandic tea, which stores the details of the corresponding village group, tea garden, tea plant, tea tree owner or caretaker, processing and production enterprise, etc. Of the tea cake, consumers only need to scan it to identify the authenticity. At present, Icelandic tea is mainly processed and marketed by qualified enterprises in 5 village groups, and the picking rights of some ancient trees are contracted by the masses to foreign tea merchants, who package and transport them to the market after harvesting.
△ Tea farmers pick ancient tree tea
What are some of the current actions in the market that damage the image of icelandic tea brands? How can it be prevented and circumvented? How can consumers buy real Icelandic tea?
Zeng Haiqian:
The main manifestation is that some enterprises do not use tea from Icelandic production areas as raw materials, but label the products as Icelandic tea; In order to maximize their profits, tea merchants use small and medium-sized and small tree tea leaves from Icelandic production areas as ancient tree teas for sale.
In this regard, we divide the tea plants in Icelandic villages into three kinds of small, medium and ancient trees according to the age of the trees, and publicize the area and output of various types of tea gardens to the public through the network every year, whether it is enterprises or farmers, the Icelandic tea provided exceeds the approved output is distorted. At the same time, we also organize villagers to set up card points around the clock in 5 villager groups in Icelandic villages, and strictly prohibit tea from other places from flowing into Icelandic villages to "OEM" to ensure that real Icelandic tea enters the market. In the next step, we will actively establish a map of tea tree (garden) data and Internet of Things monitoring, create an intelligent management system, and actively establish a geographical indication use application, authorization approval and supervision system from the government level, so as to realize the Icelandic tea market from chaos to governance.
At present, Icelandic tea is a high-end consumer product. As long as you remember three principles, you can avoid buying fake goods: low-priced do not buy, no two-dimensional code do not buy (quality traceability two-dimensional code is "one cake and one code", with legal effect, counterfeit vendors generally do not dare to privately produce two-dimensional code), source of origin labeling vague do not buy.
△ Pu'er tea sunbathing field corner
General Secretary of the Icelandic Village Party Branch Li Cairong, Director of the Village Committee:
One of the biggest problems is the prevalence of counterfeit "Icelandic tea", especially online. At present, the production of Icelandic spring tea in the core area of Icelandic villages is about 8 tons. However, there are tens of thousands of merchants impersonating Icelandic tea online, and on Taobao alone, there are no less than 4,000, and the price is "100 grams of tea cake 9.9 yuan free shipping" and "198 yuan 1 mention (5 cakes)". Not to mention that at present, we do not have so much production to support so many enterprises to sell Icelandic tea, in terms of price alone, according to the average purchase price of fresh leaves in Laozhai this year and the subsequent processing cost, the cost of 1 kg of Icelandic ancient tree tea has reached 70,000 yuan, and the price per cake of tea (200 grams) on the market will not be less than 20,000 yuan, if it is vintage tea, the price will be higher.
△ The tea trading center of the small Town of Iceland under construction
At present, what are the main problems and shortcomings facing the development of the Icelandic tea industry? How to make it bigger and stronger in the next step and increase the income of tea farmers?
Zhou Yuzhong, member of the Standing Committee of the Shuangjiang County CPC Committee and deputy governor of the county people's government:
First, the infrastructure of the tea industry is relatively weak, and the infrastructure such as tea garden production roads and green prevention and control facilities needs to be improved; Second, the industrial chain of scientific and technological support is short, and the scientific and technological support system from tea gardens to teacups, from production areas to sales areas is not perfect; Third, the brand effect is insufficient, the "public brand + enterprise brand + product brand" system has not been fully established, and the popularity and influence of the public brand "Mengku Large Leaf Tea" need to be further improved.
In the next step, we will do a good job in branding from the following aspects to drive tea farmers to increase income. Actively strive for project financial support, increase investment, and comprehensively improve infrastructure conditions; On the basis of making good use of the expert workstation, the Shuangjiang Tea Industry Science and Technology Service Group, and the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences Science and Technology Service Institute, prepare for the establishment of the China Mengku Large Leaf Tea Research Center; At the same time, we will actively do a good job in the certification of trademark certification in the small areas of 5 natural villages of Iceland, Namely Village, Land Boundary, Nuowu, Dam Crooked and South Force, and declare the protection of geographical indication products of small production areas of Icelandic Laozhai Tea (Icelandic Zhengshan Tea); Actively create a public brand of "Mengku large-leaf tea", increase the publicity, display and promotion of "public brand + enterprise brand + product brand", improve the added value of products, promote the increase of tea farmers' income, highlight the benefits of tea enterprises and tea merchants, and continue to promote the healthy development of the county's tea industry.
Director of the Provincial Tea Circulation Association Li Kaiyong, deputy general manager of the provincial agricultural industrialization leading enterprise Mengku Feng Zi Gu Tea Co., Ltd.:
We will cooperate well with the work of the government. The first is to establish and improve the star management mechanism of the primary tea system, comprehensively and deeply carry out the standardization and upgrading of the tea primary system, and actively promote the industrialization operation mode of "leading enterprises + primary production institutes (cooperatives) + bases + farmers"; The second is to grasp the cultivation of new types of entities in the tea industry. Introduce well-known domestic enterprises to invest and build factories in Shuangjiang, vigorously cultivate a number of state-level leading enterprises, tea enterprises, and enterprises with sales of over 100 million, and form a group of enterprise clusters that can drive the development of the whole tea industry chain.
Yunling Pioneer All-Media Reporter Liu Yu/Wentu
Correspondent Shi Chunxia