Putting the bodhisattva in a bottle?

Tie Guanyin (铁观音) is one of the better known Chinese teas in China as well as outside of China. This type of Wulong  is a synonym for good quality. It is produced in the South of Fujian province, one of the hearts of Chinese tea production.

In recent years the production of Tie Guanyin has increased steadily and the “Iron Bodhisattva” (literal translation of Tie Guanyin) has strengthened its image as a first-rate product.

But for some in the industry this isn’t enough. They want to make of Tie Guanyin a “popular drink”. In other words, they want to compete against Coca Cola, Wanglaoji, etc. This means that Tie Guanyin would not just be sold as tea leaves, but also as a ready to drink beverage. Of course iced tea bottles already exist in China and are produced by big companies like Kang Shifu, etc. But most of them just sell generic green or black tea, not famous tea sorts like Tie Guanyin

Those who think about developing this new product, look at the fact that more and more people are looking for a healthy alternative to the traditional soda drinks. Since tea is universally considered healthy, they see this as their opportunity. They also look at Japan’s beverage market, where bottled tea beverages, which are not just labelled “Green Tea” but “Wulong”, etc. already exist. Every year a big amount of tea leaves are imported into Japan from Fujian and transformed into bottled tea.

Many technical investments and organisational changes would need to be done in order to achieve this. According to one executive from a Fujian tea company, the technology is not a big problem. It already exists. The big hurdle is an organisational one: making sure that the product is available in all Chinese supermarkets and eventually outside of China needs resources and skills that tea producers don’t traditionally have. This is why they may need to forge alliances. Companies like the investment bank Morgan Stanley have met with local tea producers and expressed their interest in investing into producing such a new product.

In my opinion the producers of Tie Guanyin have to be careful to keep the reputation of their product as one of high quality. High quality is of course not incompatible with popular products; but is not easy to combine both claims. If Tie Guanyin would become just another brand of bottled green tea without any noticeable added value, they would lose everything.

Chinese sources: 铁观音的大众之路; 铁观音欲搭“风投”快车