2013 Harvest - Dragon Well
What are
some of the issues about buying tea directly from the sources?
Your
everyday tea merchant worries about production or procurement issues from
foreign sources. We also have to be tuned into marketing issues and the current
trends so we’re not left with overstocked products that may go out of date or
fall out of popularity. We must also be aware of political issues.
I, for
one, did not believe in the so call anti-corruption efforts currently going on
in China. After all, corruption has been like the air we breathe. It's
everywhere and can’t be avoided! At least that’s the attitude of most people I
meet here. But I’ve observed a new, guarded optimism even though most people
would say, let’s not get our hopes up
too high.
Since I
have arrived almost a week ago, I have to admit that, at least at face value,
there are minor changes. The high priced restaurants generally frequented by
elite officials and rich folks are not only easy to get into now, but their business is
downright slow. And in some cases - restaurants almost empty! The prices of luxury items
like expensive Mao Tai wine have dropped in price due to the authorities order not allowing Mao Tai to be served at official functions. Officials are being
encourage to “save”.
One of
the luxury items is definitely Long Ching or Dragon Well tea. The prices for
high quality “Ming Qian” or before “Qing Ming” Dragon Well have dropped in the
general market. On the other hand, the ultra-high quality teas that are
not available to the public have maintained their ultra-high prices. In at least one
instance, a farmer was actually able to raise his price due to high quality in
spite of the fluctuating weather condition from early warm spring and then the
sudden drop in temperature followed by excessive rain.
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| Google Maps - Meijiawu, Hangzhou, Zeijiang, China |
Our
Meijiawu tea farm, (near Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China) has been producing our best quality Dragon Well for
almost twenty years. It has been no exception to price increases over the
last few years. In addition, buyers are sometimes forced to accept lower quality and high
prices due to the increased demand!
This year,
armed with my new-found courage learned from the general atmosphere, I
inspected our harvest and found that it was about equal to last year’s
production. Although the quality of the harvest was very good, there was
certainly room to improve. Last year, due to high demand, the farmers in Meijiawu were in
no mood to do anymore than they already have done for me, respecting our long
relationship. This year, the production of our entire two grades of Dragon
Well, the Lotus Heart and the Imperial Dragon Well grades equaled to 20 Kg. I had a long
meeting with my farmer, Mr. Ye, and told him that I am not paying the same
amount or they would have to double their efforts to increase the quality to keep
their high price point. I successfully negotiated that Mr. Ye to
re-sort the entire production by hand. This reduced the harvest by 5 Kg,
sorting out some of the less quality leaves that would have been included
previously.
I am
pleased to report that I am happier with this year’s harvest of Dragon Well
than the pass few years and I will be sending them home via FedEx rather than
waiting for freight shipping so you can taste the remarkable results. Watch for
our announcement of the arrival very soon!
Preliminary
cupping of more than forty other green teas have been disappointing and I have
rejected everything other than our premium quality Dragon Well.
More soon,
Roy
Note: Technical difficulties (camera breaking)
prevented us from adding photos to this post. Roy is getting another camera and
going back up the mountain to the farm to take more pictures for the next post.
