清明时节，酉阳宜居乡春光明媚、春风和煦。
The east has just revealed the white of the fish's belly, and the livable township is already full of busy people, and the winding country roads are full of traffic. When the sky is full of stars, every house is brightly lit, and many families are even busy all night. Everyone's busyness is for it – livable tea.
Tea picking, roasting tea, buying tea...... In this year's spring tea picking season, the total population of less than 21,000 people in Yiju Township has a cumulative influx of nearly 300,000 people.
"As one of the main products of 'Youyang 800', in the past year, the livable tea industry has taken advantage of the momentum and built the establishment of brand building and large-scale production as the two core elements, which has comprehensively improved the communication, influence, popularity and reputation of livable tea. Lei Ting, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Yiju Township, introduced that the average price of tea produced in the township is more than 1,000 yuan / catty, and the highest is 8,000 yuan / catty, which will be sold out in March and April, and the per capita tea sales income will reach more than 5,600 yuan.
According to the data, in 2023, more than 23,000 acres of tea gardens will be developed in Yiju Township, producing more than 130 tons of tea, and the sales revenue will reach 260 million yuan.
Nowadays, young people's awareness of tea drinking is constantly improving, and the audience of tea is also getting younger. How can Yiju Tea take advantage of the east wind of the "Youyang 800" regional public brand to break through the circle, so that traditional tea can be rejuvenated and close to contemporary young people?
Livable tea was once a royal tribute
Youyang is located in the hinterland of Wuling Mountain, and at the same time is in the mysterious north latitude 28 ° golden line, with a forest coverage rate of 64.1% and an average annual temperature of 15.2 °C, with a long history of tea planting and drinking.
"The surrounding landscape is livable, and half of the countryside is picturesque. "Located in the heart of Youyang, the livable township is high in the north and low in the south, surrounded by mountains and peaks. From the map, the terrain resembles a leaf of tea, and the Livable River runs through the whole territory, like a petiole, and large and small tributaries meandering through it, like leaf veins.
"We have an average altitude of 800 meters here, clouds and mist in all seasons, the soil is rich in zinc, selenium and other trace elements, the pH value is between 5~6, the sun is sufficient, the rainfall is abundant, suitable for the growth of tea trees, and the tea produced is tender and green, fragrant and fragrant. Lei Ting introduced that livable tea originated in the Tang Dynasty and was offered to the palace as a tribute during the reign of Tusi in the Ming and Qing dynasties, so livable tea has the reputation of "livable tribute tea".
Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the tea farmers in Yiju Township have been replanting and replacing the dead and aging tea trees, so that a variety of tea trees are planted in the same tea garden, and when the tea farmers pick tea, they are more than 10 kinds of tea mixed and fried, and the tea is also mixed together and fried to form a natural blend of tea.
"Livable tea is mainly Sichuan small leaves, and there are more than 10 varieties of tea trees such as Longjing and Fuding small white tea. 37-year-old Ran Jincheng is the intangible inheritor of Youyang county-level tea-making skills, and has developed more than 50 acres of tea gardens in Yiju Township. He introduced that blended tea, also known as blended tea, is a tea made by blending several different tea leaves in a certain proportion in order to maintain the stability of the flavor and quality of tea.
"It's like making liquor, unifying the taste, removing impurities, and harmonizing the aroma. "Ran Jincheng brewed a cup of Yiju tea, the tea soup was clear, and there was a faint aroma of chestnuts wafting in the air," the natural blend has created the special fragrance of Yiju tea and the characteristics of sweet aftertaste, which is also an important reason why Yiju tea is widely popular in the Wuling Mountain area. ”
Freshly baked livable teas are often sold out
On the slope of Shawan Bay, Yiju Village, Yiju Township, the new sprouts in the continuous tea garden are verdant, and Ran Shixing took more than 10 tea pickers to shuttle back and forth between the tea trees, picking tender green tea leaves with dexterous hands.
Some of the tea pickers hired by Ran Shixing came from neighboring towns such as Tonggu and Dingshi, and some came from Yinjiang and Yanhe in Guizhou. Every tea picking season, he has to reserve three or four houses as the residence of the tea pickers, and last year he spent about 20,000 yuan on tea picking labor.
"Last year, I invited 7 masters to fry tea, and the salary for roasting a pound of tea was 150 yuan, and the labor cost was more than 600,000 yuan. Last year, Ran Jincheng's cooperative produced more than 8 tons of tea, and its sales revenue exceeded 6 million yuan.
"I pick tea in my own tea garden during the day, and I come here to roast tea at night. Chen Yan, a villager in his 50s, planted more than 10 acres of tea, sold fresh tea to Ran Jincheng at a price of 100 yuan per catty, and was hired by Ran Jincheng's cooperative to fry tea, and earned more than 200,000 yuan in the tea picking season last year.
The income of more than 40 days in the tea picking season is more than 20 yuan, which is not uncommon in Yiju Township.
Wu Haixia's tea garden is also in Shawan Bay, and this year she also hired 10 tea pickers, "Now the picking is one leaf and one heart, and the price of fresh leaves is at least 200 yuan per catty, and if it is a bud without leaves, the price per catty is more than 500 yuan." Wu Haixia introduced, generally more than 4 catties of fresh tea can be fried into 1 catty of finished tea, "one leaf and one heart" finished tea per catty is sold at more than 1,200 yuan, bud head finished tea per catty is sold at more than 3,000 yuan, "the old tribute tea tree buds fried tea, the price per catty is generally about 8,000 yuan." ”
Despite the high price, Kelican tea is extremely sought-after and is often sold out as soon as it comes out of the oven.
"Experienced guests are guarding the wok, and the tea is bought as soon as it is put into a simple bag. Ran Li, deputy director of the village committee of Yiju Village, introduced, "These guests are loyal lovers of Yiju tea, and they mostly drink it by themselves when they buy it, and they don't care about the packaging." ”
How can livable tea break out of the circle
However, there are hidden concerns under the best-selling livable tea.
"The buyers of Yiju tea are mainly concentrated in the Wuling Mountain area around Youyang, and most of them are over 50 years old. Ran Li introduced that although the buying group of livable tea is relatively stable, the market for livable tea is likely to shrink, "young people have different understandings and requirements for tea, and if they are not innovated and cannot meet the needs of young people, there is a risk of being abandoned by the market." ”
Ran Li once had a customer who was nearly seventy years old, and his son would buy more than 20 catties of "one leaf and one heart" tea for him every year. However, after the customer's death due to illness, his son never bought Yiju tea again.
Such a situation is not unique in the sales of Yiju tea in recent years, which also makes the party committee and government of Yiju Township begin to think about a question: where should more than 20,000 people and more than 20,000 acres of tea plantations in Yiju Township go and how to "break the circle"?
"We have always regarded the tea industry as the pillar development of the industry, and brand building and large-scale production as the two core elements of the development of the livable tea industry. Lei Ting introduced that at present, 10,000 acres of tea gardens in Yiju Township have been selected as the first batch of direct supply bases for the "Youyang 800" regional public brand, "We will use the 'Youyang 800' regional public brand to comprehensively enhance the influence and reputation of Livable Tea, and build a Chinese handmade tea town." ”
Today, the younger generation of tea farmers, represented by Ran Jincheng, is seeking to open up the online and offline sales channels of livable tea through the creation of a brand, "Last year, I sold 2.5 tons of tea to all parts of the country through e-commerce, and even went abroad. ”
Not only that, Ran Jincheng is also developing livable black tea, "We plan to develop livable summer tea on the basis of livable spring tea and expand the drinking group of livable tea." ”
End
Reporter: Ran Chuan, Duan Chengjun ▏Editor: Zhao Shuting Duty: Ren Guirong ▏Editor-in-Chief: Chen Jie Produced by Rong Media Center of Youyang Autonomous County