Changes in the Quality of Famous Tea Brands: Then and Now

Why Established Brands Command Premium Prices

There are several well-established and renowned Pu-erh tea brands with a long history. Pu-erh teas produced by these iconic brands before 1980 are now highly sought after and command premium prices due to their exceptional quality. Back then, tea merchants in Hong Kong and Guangzhou quickly recognized the value of Pu-erh tea and actively sourced it.

The Price of Tea and Its Impact on Quality

In those days, Yunnan Province was seen as a remote, undeveloped hinterland, far removed from China's cultural centers. Tea was extremely cheap, and a 357g cake of Pu-erh tea sold for as little as USD1 or 2 in Hong Kong tea shops.

The price of tea has a significant impact on how producers operate. When tea is extremely cheap, no one is willing to invest much effort into its cultivation. Before 1980, tea gardens in Yunnan were mostly left wild and untreated with fertilizers. Farmers would simply enter the mountains in spring, clear the undergrowth, and pluck the tea. As a result, the tea trees grew slowly in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem, producing raw material with a long aftertaste and clarity of exceptionally high quality.

How Raw Materials Have Changed

Moreover, while the raw materials used by today's well-known brands come from the same regions as in the past, they are fundamentally different. Since Pu-erh tea gained widespread recognition in Hong Kong, famous producing areas in southern Yunnan rose in prominence and prices rose accordingly. Many farmers began expanding production to increase revenue, and fertilizer-based mass production has since become the norm. This means that even if teas produced after 2000 are aged for 50 years, they will never reach the same quality as those made in the 1970s.

The price of tea has a significant impact on how producers operate. When prices rise, farmers expand production and use fertilizers to increase yields. Chemical fertilizers and organic fertilizers such as animal manure and oil cake all supply nitrogen, and as nitrogen supply increases, growth accelerates, causing the aftertaste and clarity to be lost.

Challenges in Sourcing and Logistics of High-Quality Tea from Remote Areas

However, it is still possible to find extremely high-quality tea by venturing into remote mountainous regions. This is why our shop focuses on sourcing tea from the southwestern mountains of Lincang, where we continue to discover exceptional tea.

Natural cultivation ancient tree tea garden at 2000m altitude in southwestern Lincang

You may wonder, "If this tea is so good, why don't other stores offer it as well?"

The reason lies in the significant effort and challenges involved in handling tea directly from primary producers in remote areas. First, it takes nearly 10 hours to reach these regions from Kunming. Additionally, there are language and business custom barriers in dealing with producers in these mountainous areas. To export tea from these areas, one must manage every step of the logistics and financial procedures independently. Even basic tasks like international money transfers can be challenging. Moreover, when it comes to production, many producers use unique methods or lack proper equipment, making it essential to visit the region personally for production management and quality control. To ensure a stable supply of high-quality tea, such meticulous efforts are indispensable.

We focus on tea from the southwestern mountains of Lincang because we deeply understand the potential value of this tea through years of experience. Although we faced many challenges at first, we overcame them one by one, building strong relationships with local producers. Now, we have established a stable supply system.

Aging Does Not Improve the Essential Quality

Some people believe that aging can improve the quality of tea, but this is not the case. While aging can alter the flavor and texture of tea, the fundamental quality, represented by aftertaste and clarity, is determined by the quality of the raw material before aging. A tea with a long aftertaste and clarity will already show those characteristics as a fresh tea and will maintain that quality through aging. On the other hand, a tea with a short aftertaste and lacking clarity will not improve in fundamental quality, no matter how long it is aged, even if its aromatic character may change over time.