The ups and downs of Wuyi Yancha
In recent years, Wuyi Yancha (武夷岩茶) has enjoyed a rise in popularity. It has been playing catch-up with other famous wulong tea (乌龙茶) variety from Fujian (福建) province, Tie Guanyin (铁观音). A lot of this popularity boost has to do with the consolidation of the “Wuyi Yancha” brand. Efforts have been especially put into Da Hongpao (大红袍), which refers to the finest quality of Wuyi Yancha, both in terms of tea leaves and processing skills.
In 2006, the manufacturing process of Wuyi Yancha was registered as “non-material national cultural heritage” (国家非物质文化遗产). This year, “Da Hongpa0” became a “Chinese well known mark” (驰名商标). 2010 also marks the start of a gigantic outdoor play called “Dao Hongpao” Impression” (印象大红袍). Created by film director Zhang Yimou (张艺谋), the show takes place amidst the natural scenery of Mount Wuyi (武夷山), the production place of Wuyi Yancha. It is entirely dedicated to the glory of this famous tea.
Last month, Wuyi Yancha suffered an unpredicted setback. The mid June floods that touched many places in southern China hit the Mount Wuyi region pretty badly. They were the worst floods the region has had in a hundred years. Furthermore, these floods happened at the worst possible moment, during the summer harvest.
Picked tea leaves, that were ready to be processed, or already being processed got wet. In order to ensure the high quality standards of Wuyi Yancha, the local authorities have strictly forbidden the use of these leaves and ordered their destruction. About one hundred thousand kilograms of tea leaves destined to become Da Hongpao are affected by this measure.
“Of course this is very bad for us; but we would not sell tea leaves that got damaged through the floods to our customers and thus impair the Da Hongpao trademark.” has one tea farmer been quoted saying. In the long run this is surely the right decision. The fact that Da Hongpao aficionados like to store their tea for a while could mitigate the effects on the market.
Chinese sources: 武夷山10万公斤大红袍茶全部销毁; “大红袍”或量跌价升
