Good tea comes down to earth as tea consumption returns to reason
Core tip: As the autumn Tieguanyin tea season arrives in Anxi, reporters visited several townships in Anxi County and found that this year the weather has been favorable. During the autumn tea picking period, the weather was cool with no rain, the autumn tea quality is very good, tea prices are gradually returning to reason, many merchants have shifted to focusing on the mass consumer market, and ordinary people can drink good tea without spending much. The Anxi tea industry is in a period of actively promoting tea transformation and upgrading. Reporter Zhang Xiaoming, text/photo
Visit
Weather helps produce good tea, tea prices remain low
Autumn fragrance in Anxi. Every year during the National Day holiday, it is the season for Anxi Tieguanyin autumn tea to come on the market. Reporters went to Taozhou Township, Anxi County, at the source of the Jinjiang River, and found that local tea trees are highly welcomed by tea merchants because they are newly planted. After observing for many days, reporters found that the tea market prices here this year are relatively rational, with fewer high-priced teas.
Starting on the 5th, the weather turned cool, bringing tea farmers an excellent opportunity for picking and making tea. Tea farmer Zhang Jian has more than 20 years of tea-making experience. As long as the weather is good, he can make relatively good rough tea every day. He introduced that five years ago, tea prices could easily reach 200 yuan, and multiple tea dealers would go to his home in advance to bid and place orders. In the past, he earned tens of thousands of yuan a year from tea. This year, rough tea sells for at most 100 yuan per jin, and the purchase price offered by tea merchants is also more rational.
There are also more tea farmers who have to take the tea made overnight to the town tea market at 7 o'clock every day to sell it. Tea prices are generally only between 20 yuan and 60 yuan per jin.
Gande Town, adjacent to Taozhou Township, is China's number one tea town and has long been known as the weather vane of the tea market. But reporters found during visits that although the quality of Gande tea has continued to improve, tea prices have not risen along with it.
Survey
Consumption trends toward rationality, focus on the masses
Senior industry insider Chen Xiong introduced that the sales prices of Tieguanyin have trended toward affordable levels in recent years. For example, this year the overall purchase price of Anxi Tieguanyin rough tea continues the trend of the past two years. The purchase price of rough tea from some high-mountain teas is basically more than 200 yuan per jin, and the prices of good-quality rough tea remain firm. The purchase prices of rough tea from some low-altitude areas are mostly within 100 yuan per jin.
"Overall, prices are more in line with mass consumer demand. The retail price of non-brand finished products is also roughly around 300 yuan per jin, and most tea is sold in half-jin packages, so buying one portion of Anxi Tieguanyin costs only one or two hundred yuan." A person in charge of a chain tea enterprise in the urban area introduced that the company has already planned to place its marketing center on developing the mass market. In the past, when selling tea, everyone hoped to sell high-end tea and obtain more profit per item. Now the entire tea market is gradually becoming rational and actively transforming, focusing on conquering the mass consumer market.
Way out
Highlight brand culture, plan transformation and upgrading
Reporters found through investigation that under the situation of increasingly mass-market prices, some high-end tea enterprises are seeking transformation, paying attention to distinctive services, highlighting brand culture characteristics, shifting toward serving ordinary people more closely, expanding into the market retail sector, and winning a certain market.
A relevant person in charge of the Anxi County Agriculture and Tea Bureau said that many enterprises in the tea market are planning transformation. At present, many large tea enterprises in our city have begun to enter the tea deep-processing market and have obtained good benefits.
"Convenience, speed, and health will be the two aspects consumers pay more attention to, so Anxi tea will also develop in these two directions." The person in charge introduced that this year the Anxi County Party Committee and County Government proposed to deeply implement the modern tea industry improvement plan, plan the road to strengthening tea across various links such as basic management, production models, and marketing, and at the same time increase the integration of tea cooperatives, standardize the operating mechanisms of cooperatives, and guide cooperatives to effectively connect with large tea production enterprises. After experiencing a blowout-style development, Anxi Tieguanyin is achieving a second takeoff on the road of improving tea quality, promoting tea transformation and upgrading, and enhancing the economic benefits of the tea industry.