Message from a PTT netizen: May I ask how you tea merchants buy tea? Why is the high-mountain tea I bought myself in Lishan and HuaGung not as good as your medium- to low-elevation tea? Could you share how tea merchants select tea, and how ordinary consumers can buy good-tasting tea directly at the origin?
Reply from Liao Chang Xing: A common misconception among many beginners is that “high-mountain teas or teas from famous growing regions are definitely good.” However, while these regions have a higher “quality ceiling,” it doesn’t mean every tea from there is good. For example, even though Lishan has a very high elevation, there is still plenty of mediocre tea there, so careful selection is essential when buying tea. Here are a few key points on how we, as tea merchants, select tea:
Key Points on How to Buy Tea
Tea Garden Management: About 70% of tea quality is already determined right on the tea tree. Key factors affecting the quality of fresh tea leaves include pest control, irrigation, and fertilizer usage, with fertilizer being particularly important. We pay special attention to which tea gardens use soybean meal or imported compound fertilizers, as these produce tea with a better flavor profile. Don’t underestimate the role of fertilizers; many Lishan tea gardens don’t even use soybean meal fertilizer, relying on chemical fertilizers instead, and the quality of such tea leaves is bound to suffer.
Tea Leaf Maturity at Harvest: Tender-picked leaves yield a richer, fuller flavor, but if the post-production process fails, they easily become bitter and astringent, and the yield is much lower. Therefore, many tea factories wait until the leaves are fully mature before harvesting, which increases yield by 10-15%, but results in a slightly inferior taste. Top-quality tender-picked teas are usually hand-picked and bought up by tea merchants first.
Weather During Harvest: The weather on the day of harvest and the preceding two days is crucial. Sunny weather helps stabilize the moisture inside the tea leaves, making it easier for the tea master to adjust during withering, moisture dissipation, and pan-firing, while tea leaves harvested on sunny days offer a superior aroma.
Layer-by-Layer Selection: This is why the best teas are all bought by tea merchants. During the tea season, tea merchants practically reside in the tea-growing regions, visiting various tea factories every day to taste the tea. Since tea merchants have some of the sharpest noses in the industry, the best goods are naturally snapped up by them first.
In addition to the four points above, tea-making equipment, the tea master’s technique, and the factory’s asking price also influence a tea merchant’s selection.
How can regular consumers choose good tea leaves?
For novice consumers, we recommend having a tea-savvy friend accompany you to a tea shop rather than making a special trip to the tea-growing regions. Firstly, it’s a long journey, and secondly, unless it’s during a bountiful harvest season, most of the good tea has already been bought by tea merchants, so you can imagine the quality of what’s left behind.
To reiterate, tea regions and altitudes are merely references. At most, only 30% of Lishan tea from the highest altitudes turns out to be truly exceptional. Beginners shouldn’t buy tea based solely on region and elevation.