丨 This article was originally produced by Xiao Chen Tea
丨 First published in the headline number: Xiao Chen Tea Affair
丨Author: Village Gu Chen
《1》
Price is always a sensitive string in the tea industry.
See a discussion online before.
Why is it that some teas only need a few tens of yuan a pound, while some teas are thousands, or even tens of thousands?
Obviously, what opens up the pricing gap between the two is quality.
Some people do not understand, why should tea be sold so expensive?
"I've bought tea for so many years, and I've never bought more than 300 because I don't think it's worth it."
In addition, there are also people who hold different views, too cheap tea to drink themselves. After drinking tea for many years, the mouth has already drunk more and more "Diao".
In the past, I felt that tea of tens of yuan or even more than a hundred yuan could barely be imported.
Up to now, there are no hundreds or even thousands of large, and basically can not buy satisfactory tea.
Some people think that tea leaves are just leaves, drinking tea to quench thirst, hundreds and thousands of yuan of tea to drink basically no difference, the water is too deep, tea merchants black heart.
Finally, there are also those who are more neutral.
If you say, there is no difference between 300 yuan a pound of tea and 1,000 yuan a pound of tea you drink.
Behind this either means that you bought tea and was pit by someone else.
Or maybe you don't understand tea at all!
In a nutshell, you get what you pay for.
Expensive tea and cheap tea, it is impossible to drink exactly the same between the two!
《2》
Why are the prices of tea high and low? This has to start from the source of the production area.
In all kinds of tea, there is a core production area.
For example, the six famous mountains of Pu'er tea, Shifeng Longjing, Huangshan Maofeng, the zhengshan small species produced locally in Tongmu, the zhengyan core mountain field in Wuyi rock tea, and the Fuding white tea.
The more in the core production area, the more expensive the price of tea green, and even the market is priceless.
Because the temperature, light, rainfall, air quality, soil texture, climatic conditions, etc. are different in each region.
The tea produced has its own characteristics.
It can be said that oranges are oranges in huainan, and oranges are oranges in huaibei.
Once away from the core production area, the tea flavor will be significantly inferior and the pricing will drop sharply.
The reason behind it is so simple!
In addition to the production area environment, there are many factors that affect the pricing of tea green.
For example, the way the tea plantation is managed, is it ecological organic tea?
Tea gardens managed by ecological models will have a higher cost of harvesting tea greens.
Let's say the tea plant is pruned?
After pruning the table, the top advantage of the tea plant is eliminated, more side branches can be emitted, and the overall tea green yield will be improved.
Tea trees that have not been trimmed, the nutrient substances are more concentrated, the quality will be higher, and the asking price of tea green will naturally be higher.
Let's say, is it picked by hand, or by machine?
Picking tea by hand is labor-intensive.
During the busy tea making season, tea pickers need to bend over and hunch their backs for most of the day, endure mosquitoes, sun, wind blowing, low temperatures and other outdoor environments to pick tea, and one harvest is most of the day.
Ask the workers to pick tea, the cost is not cheap.
But because of the hand-picked tea green, the quality is better and the cost is higher.
Let's say the freshness of the tea green.
The tea greens that are picked should be processed in time, otherwise they will be smothered.
In case this batch of tea greens is left for too long, it becomes not fresh, and the leaves are slightly leafy.
Or, it is a rainy day to pick tea, and the dew is not dry.
Then, its Aoba price will naturally be different!
《3》
The difference in the cost of making tea will also affect the final pricing.
Tea processing is a professional and technical activity.
Any technical work has a minute on stage, and the ten years of work offstage are far from being as simple as it seems.
Before, I heard a tea friend say.
When he went to a farmhouse somewhere, he saw the local farmhouse making green tea.
According to the other party, these are all handmade by farmers and have an authentic flavor.
Due to the simplicity of the farmers, the pricing is cheaper than the tea sold in the tea shop outside.
Tea friends want to ask, this kind of farmhouse homemade tea, can you buy?
The answer is simple, when you pay for it out of emotion, of course you can buy it and try it.
However, in order to pursue quality and flavor, it is necessary to choose this type of tea carefully.
The so-called farmhouse tea, that is, farmers find a vacant land behind their own houses and plant tea trees.
In the spring, Grandma picked tea, Aunt dried tea, Grandpa used his own iron pot to stir-fry tea, and the whole family came together.
In the absence of professional equipment, professional tea masters under the premise.
The final product cannot be compared with regular commercial tea.
The processing process of farmhouse tea is not standardized, and the quality is uneven.
Even so, some farmers just randomly dry fresh tea greens to 70% or 80% dry like dried plum vegetables, and put them in plastic bags to put away.
The whole tea making process is casual, sloppy, sloppy, no gold content, no matter from what point of view, it is not suitable for buying hands.
The cost of tea processing is reflected in all aspects.
For example, when spreading white tea, the green and fresh leaves of the tea are spread on the water sieve, and the cost of thin stalls is higher.
However, thinly spread and dried, you can better maintain the freshness of good tea.
If the green leaves are piled too thickly, the bottom layer of tea green is not breathable, and it is easy to smoulder.
For example, when processing rock tea, is it charcoal or electric?
Under traditional charcoal roasting, the cost consumption is greater.
Even if it is all baked with charcoal, baking with lychee charcoal, or other charcoal, it is a different cost.
For example, the stir-frying of Longjing green tea.
Excellent craftsmanship, steady and steady operation, can escort the quality of good tea.
In case the tea maker's tea making skills are insufficient, or careless, the temperature is too high and the fire is too urgent when frying.
After a good tea is fried with a burnt taste, it means that even the best tea green and fresh leaves will fall sharply!
《4》
Finally, let's talk about storage costs.
After the tea leaves are processed, they need to be packed into boxes and put into warehouses.
Then go through the sub-packing, packaging, transportation, etc., in order to come to thousands of households.
The storage of tea also requires a lower cost.
Especially when buying old tea, we must be more vigilant and pay attention to this.
The standard storage rules for tea, there will be no more books here.
In short, in all kinds of tea leaves, from packaging materials, to cargo stacking methods, to the temperature and humidity requirements in the tea storage room, there are clear and meticulous regulations.
In order to achieve the standard storage of tea, first of all, the location of the warehouse is very important, not too humid, should not be sunburned in the east and west.
Secondly, it is necessary to purchase equipment such as air conditioners and dehumidifiers.
Finally, the electricity cost of air-conditioning equipment, as well as personnel patrols, regular inspections, outbound and warehousing registration management, anti-theft, etc., are all cost expenses.
Therefore, the cost of standardizing the storage of old tea is not small.
After years of inventory costs accumulated, the final pricing will not be low.
Unless it is, the tea leaves are broken.
Or the tea storage process is not at all careful, casually put into the corner and completely ignore.
Otherwise, the so-called decades of Chen, twenty years of Chen, and other years are all forged and fabricated.
Even in order to market old tea, he did not hesitate to make up gimmicks such as overseas returns, grandma's dowry tea, and ancestral antique tea.
Then, even if such an old tea is priced cheaply, it cannot be wanted!
《5》
300 pounds of tea and 1,000 yuan a pound of tea, there is a gap in all aspects.
The reason behind it is not difficult to understand.
But knowing this, how can it help the actual tea buying process?
Be more specific.
When the personal tea purchase budget is only 300 yuan, how to buy reasonable tea?
The imperative is to be pragmatic.
The budget is only 300 yuan, and when you plan to buy a pound or half a pound of tea, you must stay away from all kinds of gimmicky tea.
For example, Jin Junmei, Niulan Pit Cinnamon, Lao Ban Zhang, West Lake Longjing, 10-year-old white tea, master handmade tea, etc.
Because of these famous teas, all of them have limited production/stock, and the asking price is not cheap.
If you can buy it at a low price of less than 300 yuan, it is obviously a trap of the merchants, and the other party sells all fakes.
To this end, when the budget for tea purchase is limited, it is recommended to focus on the field of ration tea.
Take white tea new tea as an example.
At the price of early 300s, if you want to buy a pound of better white silver needles and white peonies, it is not in line with the current market.
Choose to buy half a pound of alpine spring shoumei / autumn shoumei, more cost-effective.
Otherwise, you can buy a small amount of about 100 grams of canned tea.
Try it first, and after making comparisons, you can find a choice that suits you!
《6》
When the tea purchase budget is sufficient, how to ensure that the tea purchase is not deceived?
A good budget means a wide range of options.
When the streets are full of tea, it is easy to make people pick their eyes.
Cheap tea, the quality will not be good.
But are expensive teas, especially teas that are ridiculously expensive, worth the price?
For example, I don't know if the list price is more than 500 a bubble of 10 grams of bullpen pit cinnamon, is it true or not?
For example, I don't know if the real age of this ancient tree Pu'er is 100 years, or 1000 years?
For example, I can't tell if this high-priced handmade tea is all handmade? Or is it semi-manual? Or is it just a routine?
In these difficult situations, how to avoid spending money unjustly?
Obviously, this is not coming.
First, you can ask experienced people to help you judge.
What's more, by asking someone to buy on behalf of others, paying for tea tasting, regular study, etc., to prevent yourself from stepping on the pit.
Second, the master leads the door, and the key lies in the individual.
The matter of tasting tea, there is a lot of learning, not blindly throwing money to be able to attach to elegance.
In the end, it is still inseparable from drinking more, learning more, and feeling more.
After saving enough experience, everything will come naturally!
On paper, I finally realized that I had to do something about it!
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Xiao chen tea village gu Chen, columnist, tea industry original new media "Xiao Chen tea matter" chief writer, has published a white tea monograph "White Tea Tasting Notes", 2016-2020 has written more than 4,000 original articles.