Tea industry looks to innovations in bid to boost allure

Innovations in marketing and production are helping attract younger people to the brew

Thirty-year-old Fang Zhou is jokingly called the “golden farm bachelor” by his friends. With a round face that is usually fixed with a broad smile, he is the third generation of a tea-growing family that owns a plantation covering more than 300 hectares in Fujian province.

The family business was started by Fang’s grandfather You Yongsheng, the former head of Xingcun village in Wuyishan. The city is named after the Wuyi Mountains where the region’s famous dahongpao rock tea originated.

The tea, prized for its rich, longlasting aroma, is made from leaves picked from trees that grow in rocky gullies.

In the 1970s, You encouraged villagers to form their family tea businesses into a cooperative. The move significantly boosted the villagers’ incomes and helped lift Xingcun residents out of poverty.

In the 1980s, You’s family bought out the individual stakeholders and he became manager of Xiqiu Tea.

He later transferred the management role to his daughter You Yuqiong — the only female inheritor of the traditional skills of making dahongpao tea, which was listed as an intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

In recent decades, You Yuqiong, Fang’s mother, has been unwavering in her efforts to advance the family business. In 1995, she introduced computer-controlled machines to the tea-production process.

Three years later, she established a tea institute, cooperating with experts from local research centers and colleges to develop new products. Two years later, Xiqiu became one of the few companies in the city that had a purpose-built rock tea assembly line, which they hold intellectual property rights over.

In 2006, You Yuqiong sent then 13-year-old Fang to study in the United Kingdom. After finishing high school he completed a management degree at Warwick University’s Business School in 2016 and returned to Wuyishan the same year.

“Sending me aboard was my mother’s plan to better develop our family business,” Fang said.

“She is a brave woman who never fears change, and I hope I can take inspiration from what I’ve learned overseas. She believes that the most famous tea brand in the world should be a Chinese one, as China is the birthplace of tea.”

As the future head of Xiqiu, Fang plans to inject vitality into the family business through technical innovations and promotion of tea culture among the younger generations.

Innovations

A small tea atomizer is one of his innovations. The device, no larger than a glue stick, emits a fine spray of tea. This process strengthens the bouquet of the tea and makes it easier to distinguish different varieties from each other.

“To recognize the bouquet of a tea is a crucial part of tea tasting. Every tea species has its unique scent and there are even variances in the same tea species grown in different mountain areas,” Fang said.

He added that the scents produced by the atomizer can even be used as tea perfumes.

Fang also came up with the idea of turning one of Xiqiu’s abandoned tea-processing factories into a small tea museum, exhibiting different varieties of the plant and demonstrating traditional tea-making skills. The museum is free to the public.

In the middle of the museum, a traditional withering trough used to dry the leaves is used to display porcelain bowls made in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Fang had the trough covered with a pane of glass so it can be used as a table. Visitors can also sample tea varieties while learning more about their histories.

“The museum has become a popular landmark where young people love to take selfies and post them online to show off their tea-tasting experiences,” Fang said. “That’s a practical way to promote tea culture to young people.”

Fang said he learned in the UK that the traditional tea-making business needed the help of big data.

“From tea planting to processing, we are collecting data on each procedure,” he said.

“In future, the data analysis will make the industry more ‘intelligent’. That way traditional tea making, now an intangible culture heritage under threat of disappearing, can be better protected and passed on.”

Green future

In 2016, Wuyishan was designated one of 10 pilot national parks. The pilot park area was made a world biodiversity reserve in 1992 and the Wuyi Mountains were placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1999.

The Fang family’s tea plantation was included in the protected area of the Wuyishan National Park.

In recent years, Fang has explored new ways to combine tea growing and eco-friendly tourism while promoting the idea of environmental protection, a goal of the national park.

To reduce the use of pesticides, Fang has interspersed soybean plants among the tea bushes. Insects eat the leaves of the soybean plants, which also add nutrients to the soil.

He has also planted osmanthus trees along the footpaths of the plantation. In autumn, when the tea-picking season ends, the osmanthus trees create beautiful scents and flowers for visitors to enjoy.

Fang said similar changes are taking place at other tea plantations in the city.

“The industry is becoming more environmentally friendly and more cultural elements are being attached to it,” he said.

“Tea making reflects a harmonious relationship between people and nature. We treasure this gift of nature and should better protect it to ensure it is passed from generation to generation.”

Tea making reflects a harmonious relationship between people and nature. We treasure this gift of nature and should better protect it to ensure it is passed from generation to generation.”

Fang Zhou, future head of Xiqiu Tea

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY From left: Fang Zhou and his mother You Yuqiong check the growth of plants at their tea plantation in Wuyishan, Fujian province. Fang learns tea processing with You.