Friday September 23, 2011 | 12 comments
Last month, we were welcomed by a 20 C cool breeze at 5:00 AM when we touched down at Kunming airport in Yunnan, China. Far from Calcutta’s 35 C hot winds, I felt like I had been transported back to Darjeeling, except for the dryness in the air. Over the next few days, we would be absorbed in our research of the CTC teas being produced in Yunnan. Totally unaware of the outside world, we woke up to the reality of 20 million kilos of CTC tea production in Lincang County, with an average cost of production of 5 USD per kilo – this was an eye opener that came with almost the same suddenness as that of a stealth bomber.
Fenqing, Shuangjiang, Lincang, Baoshan, and Mangshi – all have CTC lines imported from India, producing clean, black, heavy teas with an unspoken guarantee from Lipton to be bought instantly. The milk tea market is increasing at an amazing pace and since 2004 when people looked down on these whiskery, brown, unknown, alien molecules from India or Sri Lanka, China has come a long way. Brands like You Le Mei, Xiang Piao Piao, Wa Ha Ha, Coca Cola, and Nestle are everywhere on the shelves and menus of businesses – be they big or small, restaurant or fast-food chain.
China is changing, but so is Taiwan and Korea – with Japan in tow – as far as the consumption of CTC and milk tea is concerned. Although difficult to pronounce, milk tea – conveniently called nai cha – is ubiquitous. For the next nine days, our eyes grew bigger and brighter and our eyeballs almost bulged as we flew to Hong Kong, where milk tea is also everywhere – particularly in RTD form. There was a special show at the Hong Kong International Tea Fair from August 11-13 focusing on milk tea and it was very interesting to see CTC teas being used in every conceivable way. Let Buddha take his own course … Om Mani Padme Hum.
As a bonus and totally unplanned, I landed on the doorsteps of Shennong Temple in Shuangjiang and visited the 3,200-year-old tea ancestor tree in Xiaowan town, Jinxiu village, known as the “Jinxiu tea ancestor,” a two-hour drive from Fengqing. We were so lucky that we understood the gravity and importance of these cities only after many others saw our trip photos and reminded us about these extremely important places.
Altitude, vastness, and the availability of land in Yunnan is permitting experimentation with many new manufacturing ideas, along with conventional processes like withering and fermenting. Here the superior quality of the tea leaf is attributable to being grown at an average altitude of 4,000’ above sea level, which is the standard height at which Darjeeling or Sri Lankan teas are grown. Nearby Burma also has the same altitudes and thereby gets very good liquors, although the appearance of their teas is not good. China has improved upon all of these factors and resorted to the best machines and the best manufacturing practices to produce some of the best CTC teas.
What an interesting trip Rajiv. I had no idea that China was moving in the direct of CTC production. I had assumed they were pretty much in the orthodox tea business. When I think of China teas, green and white teas come to mind. Now you’re telling me that they’re also in the Milk tea business. Might you have some percentages to share? I’m curious how much CTC compared to othodox teas they produce.
China is new to CTC but they are doing it very carefully and methodically – today 20 million kilos out of 1200 million kilos total production – but slowly they go up. This just makes 1.5% but potential is enormous as the milk tea segment is growing exponentially..
Rajiv, by milk tea do you mean ‘boba’, teas with condensed milk & tapioca pearls? Why the use of CTC rather than othodox in making milk tea? How are they brewing it when they make the milk tea?
Thanks for this eye opening information Rajiv. I hadn’t a clue that China was producing so much CTC. I’m not surprised, though, to see that when it comes to tea, when the Chinese see a growing business opportunity, that they would want to take advantage of it in a significant way.
I’m curious. Could you describe to me the aroma and taste profiles of some of these CTC teas and how they differ from the profiles of Darjeeling, Sri Lanken or Assam teas? Are they just CTC versions of Chinese whole leaf black teas like Keemun, or different?
Sandy – these are standard CTC teas – well made, black, clean & heavy – have an distinct aroma – I called them Lincang CTC – a name which will soon be as famous as Assam CTC because of its unique aroma – it is all so surprising and it is typical chinese style of keeping things so silent and then springing the surprise on people’s faces..
Diane – this is not ‘boba’ as you know in the west but typical CTC with milk and suger – the indian style milk tea – getting very popular in china now..it is brewed in the traditional indian way of boiling milk and water mixture with CTC and later adding suger to taste..
Wow! Wow! Wow! This is truly news to so many in the tea industry. There couldn’t have been anyone better than you, Rajiv, to get first-hand knowledge and some of the first sips of these Chinese CTC teas! Makes me wonder what Japan may be up to! Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Thanks for the reply, Rajiv! Hmmmmm..wow. That’s a huge market for Indian-style tea brewing. As for the ‘milk tea/boba’ I was thinking of–both Tapioca Express & Lollicup closed in our city. Think it’s more of a big city/demographic thing.
Thanks Marie..there is still much more to this tea industry being rejuvenated in China and it underlines the need to watch it closely..the areas dedicated to pu’er teas which were of relevance in those days is giving over to other high yielding, quick selling varieties and the planting material research in Dianhong group research centre was an eye opener..will follow up soon with more relevant information..
Yunnan is maily puer tea producing area,it is very beautiful,I have been so many times,but I am first time to visit the T Ching website by lochan’s link,so pls let me know how to post the article here.^-^.
it is so simple – just write your post and mail to them – after going thru they will do the needful
Teaman, to echo Rajiv’s words, you are more than welcome to write a post for T Ching. Please send me an email at ecilengir@tching.com and we can discuss next steps. I am the Managing Editor of our tea blog. – Erika
it was yet another revelation this time while in Beijing that yunnan CTC is selling for on an average 2.5 USD per kilo – it is a bad news for indian CTC here but a good news to CTC machinery manufacturers who will be exporting more CTC machines soon – pu’er is being replaced by CTC now – a time correction – much awaited..