Tea is starting to play an increasingly significant role. As the world’s second most popular beverage worldwide — with 297 billion liters consumed in 2021 — only secondary to water, its considerable economic value is unmisted. The ethnic minorities in Yunnan province of China undoubtedly played a part within the process - dealing in 374,000 tons of tea, which consisted of 161,000 tons of Pu er, 72,000 tons of red tea, 141,000 tons of green tea, and the other 4 percent- 8000 tons- were different types in 2021. Such major export remarkably improved the living standard in the region, as evidenced by the fact that the disposable income increased by 115.4% from 11233RMB in 2012 to 25666RMB in the end of 2021. Burgeoning trade such as this perplexes me in terms of its sustainability and reliability. To what extent is Pu er production a felicitous economic source to rely on for the local minorities? Through this paper, I will answer this question with the knowledge and experiences I gained in my two weeks of fieldwork in Yunnan.
Expenditure of Tea Production
The borderless tea gardens captivated my attention as I was still on the bus ride to Jingmai Mountain (景迈山). Pu’er trees are organized into rows, boundless and endless, as if they were the great wall of the minorities. Legion Pu'er trees were planted on relatively steep slopes, demanding considerable stamina to collect. Within the conversation and the chit chats with the locals, I was aquatinted with appertained information. In the past, when covid 19 was absent, and the border between China and Burma was not segregated, minority tea farmers would often employ Burmese workers to help them collect acres of Pu’er while paying them around 50-60 RMB per day. However, now, Burmese workers can no longer cross the border due to the fence built around the border, forcing the locals to employ other endemic tea farmers to assist in their tea picking. These laborers ask to be paid for each kilogram they collect, for their skill and efficiency are more reliable. In detail, during spring, Shengtai tea (生态茶, tea from eco-environmental trees or terrace tea, the newer and less valuable tea tree leaves), cost around 50-60 RMB per kilogram to accrete, and the Gushu tea (古树茶, tea from ancient tea trees), the older trees that are older than 100 year old, charges around 100-200 RMB per kilogram as it is the most hectic time of the year. Other times of the year, the price of Shengtai tea collecting fees are around 10 - 14 RMB, depending on the height of the tree, and the Gushu tea are about 20 RMB per kilogram. However, even so, some skilled workers are still capable of picking up to 400-500 worth of tea leaves per day. There are other necessary expenses regarding the tea plantations, such as tools extirpating weeds that compete with the tea trees for resources. Such devices will charge up to 2000-3000 RMB. However, there are cheaper options- 700-800 RMB-if the tea farmer desiderates to save some expense and sacrifice some handle and comfort. Employing Burmese workers for the job of cutting weeds requires around 60 RMB as their daily wage, and the natives ask for around 100. If wild grasses were not removed in time, the quality of the tea would drop, resulting in depreciation in the tea’s value and, therefore, a reduced income. The congregation of the tea leaves is only the first step out of the five steps in producing a decent cup of tea.
When I sojourned in Mangjing Lancangp Pa Ai Leng tea finca（景迈澜沧帕哎冷古茶庄
园）and visited different villages, Wengji, Nuogang, Mangjing, I often saw countless wooden baskets placed horizontally on a stand almost outside of every house. I later discovered that the minorities use tools such as this to withering (萎凋), which can trigger water dissipation of the Pu’er leaves to reach the state as being malleable. Unlike drying, a step similar to withering, Pu’er leaves must stay alive to permit oxidation. Only then will the tea develop color, aroma, and flavor, and the tea will no longer be bitter. The baskets used for withering and are named withering bed (萎凋床). Larger ones cost up to 1000 RMB. Locals often have to pay around 600 RMB for smaller sizes withering bed. The number of leaves put on each basket is another delicate lore. In a hot and sunny climate, local Pu’er farmers will wither more leaves in a basket at a time; in cool and moist conditions, they often reduce the amount. Harnessing withering bed is only one of the three methods of withering, along with natural withering - placing the fresh tea leaves on a bamboo sieve and in a dry and cool environment with plenty of air circulation – and daylight withering - laying the Pu’er leaves evenly spread on under the sunlight. However, according to an autochthonous Pu’er farmer in Nuogang and Wengji, only natural withering and withering beds are resorted by the minorities in the region. The process will last around 8 - 10 hours, depending on the weather and the tea itself.
Later, local Pu’er tea farmers will resort to heating the Pu’er tea leaves in a metal pan while using their hands to stir and locomote the leaves after withering. This course is called Sha Qing (杀青）or Chao Cha (炒茶), meaning frying tea, dedicated to removing the water out of the Pu’er leaves to eradicate the smell of moist grass and to unveil its scent through the production of transcyanohydrin, which is made when the concentration of cyanohydrin abates. Another consequential aftermath is denaturing the active sites of the enzymes in the Pu’er leaves and therefore preventing fermentation. During this process, the metal pan will be heated up to 200 - 300 Celsius by the firewood in a slot under the pan. As safety precautions, protections such as wearing gloves are adopted by the minorities. However, despite the aegis, the burning temperature made me quit soon after I commenced my trial. Eyes and experiences were the sole tools the minorities used to judge the timing. If the wok is overheated and seared, the Pu’er leaves will deface and char - potentially impairing the tea. Considering the difficulty and value each pan of tea is worth, indigenous Pu'er tea farmers choose to complete the step with their own hands. More contemporary tea farmers have the option of frying tea machines - costs ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands - that simply require tea farmers to set the data, time, and temperature. Depending on the size of the machine, the amount of which it could be fried varies.
After the tea farmers finish frying tea, Pu’er teas will enter the next stage, kneading (揉捏).
The purpose of kneading is to shape the tea leaves into circular, straight, and tight stripes, and, at the same time, to destroy the cellular tissues of the tea leaves. This process is simple, with the sole demand for a large basket to proceed. However, completing the process mechanically necessitates the tea farmers to bear the cost of thousands or tens of thousands of RMB varying in size, capacity, and weight.
If one wants to sell their tea in round and brick form, the tea farmer is required to add another process, compressing (压茶), to their line of production. The advent of the process is relatively new, introduced and leaned by tea farmers in Jingmai Mountain around 2006 and 2007. In the procedure, tea leaves will be empocketed to a felicitous amount and then into a circular fabric cloth. Then it will be heated by burning steam for the facility of reshaping. Lastly, the leaves are either compressed under a mound with workers on top rotating it, or by a machine costing around a few hundred RMB.
All the mentioned steps of producing Pu’er are either done in one’s home or at a tea factory, as I have been informed by a few of the villagers that, nowadays, nearly 80 percent of the tea growers in Jingmai Mountain have their own tea factory. Usually, they only employ workers during spring, when most tea leaves are collected; only then will they complete their post on time. The workers ask to be paid around 400-500 RMB daily. Other times of the year, due to less workload, many tea owners choose to work in the production line themselves.
Marketing and Income
Relying on Pu er as a source of income could, for now, be considered practical as, in 2021, the average monthly yield exceeds the average monthly earning in China. Most of the income is in spring when spring tea leaves are collected. In spring, Shengtai tea of the year, these days, are around 400 RMB per kilogram and normal Gushu tea ranges from 800-1200 depending on the location - Pu'er teas tend to be cheaper as they go closer to the edges of Jingmai- weather - too cold or too much rain will affect the taste, and therefore the price of the tea- and the seller - more reputable owner could sell the tea at a higher price. Tea farmers collect their tea in other seasons as well and sell it at a much more friendly price. Such exorbitant price was because of, one, alleged health benefits of the Pu'er. Pu'er is thought to have the miraculous effects of slowing aging, improving skin quality, and averting such ailments as cancer and inflammation. Another crucial factor for its sky-high price is sentimentalization. It first appeared in 1950 Taiwan and then in 1995 Hong Kong; both ended in a market crash. Consequently, the third time, the speculators shifted their target to the mainland, where Pu’er was still a niche product. In the early 2000s, speculators commenced hoarding Pu’er and procuring tea factories, endeavoring to gain dominion of the industry. Coincidentally, at the same time, the local Yunnan government searched for ways that could augment regional economic growth. Altogether Pu’er is gradually earning its name with its reputed health benefits around the world. The two then made a series of show of it – entering Beijing (马班进京), the 168 days journey of horses carrying Pu’er tea and information of tea companies from Yunnan to Beijing with notational attention；the return of tribute (贡茶回归), the return of the hundreds year old Pu’er and the spread of the conception that regarding of its status； entering the Olympics (走进奥运), the expand and advertisement of Pu’er international wide. All of which brought vast engrossment to this new product. In a blink of an eye, the price launched into the sky - each day doubling and tripling its worth. The tea speculators, then, started gradually vending Pu’er. However, due to rampant and restless sensationalization, the price of Pu’er collapsed faster than it rocketed. Fortunately, a brand new concept, Gushu tea, was inaugurated, essentially rejuvenating the industry. After all of the ups and downs, Gushu tea went from 6 RMB to 1000, a nearly 167-fold increase. The reliability of the price, however, remains questioned as retrogress regarding its value has been shown in recent years. For instance, Gushu tea depreciating from roughly 2000RMB in 2021 per kilogram to around 1000 RMB in 2022.
Although the Pu’er business might come across as effulgent, barriers regarding of the outlet are nonetheless present. Tea growers in Jingmai mainly depend on face-to-face sales with customers visiting villages and towns, and that is, so far, the only way of gaining new clients, as nearly none of them choose to expand to an online store. This particular type of business model heavily calculates on guest flow, which has been dramatically affected by the pandemic thus affecting the income. Many growers are arguably concerned about the chaos and hardship of selling online. It is understandable that the rather “innocent” locals could not compete with the cunning and glib salesman in the city.
Selling Pu’er in Jingmai, tea growers in the region face intense competition. In a village or town, almost every family does the Pu’er business, and in addition to offline stores only, the number of customers is confined to the amount of travelers. With covid 19 acting upon - demanding a 24 hour covid test and the 7 + 3 day quarantine requirement - dissuading countless to visit, and as a result, leftover teas are not uncommon every year. However, even if the regulation is gradually commencing to improve, many tea farmers still come across the difficulty of merchandising their products due to the substantial customer flow difference between famous villages and regular and remote villages. In order to survive the harsh condition, many tea growers will sell their leaves to the tea corporations (合作社) - an institution that is made of tea farmers who collect, produce and sell Pu’er as a whole or tea sellers. The main difference between the two is that tea sellers only garner tea leaves during the bullish hours of the market while tea corporations amass tea leaves regardless of the fluctuation of the market. In favoring times, tea corporations and tea sellers collect Shengtai tea around 60-70RMB per kilogram, and 30-40 RMB per kilogram in years if it’s not, such as 2022 where covid 19 is taking place. Gushu tea requires around 500-700 RMB per kilogram for the tea corporations and tea sellers.
In spite of all the knots and the adversity, local tea farmers manage to earn around 6000-7000 RMB per month nowadays. This sort of income could undoubtedly support their life in the area as I was told by the indigenous people. However, if one wishes to travel or to move, 6000-7000 might be somewhat tricky.
Future Development
The Pu’er market has experienced twists and turns, yet the market is still tending - based on income aggrandized from 9.4 billion RMB in 2016 to 18.5 billion RMB in 2021 with a compound annual growth rate of 14.5 percent. It is predicted that, in 2022, it will reach 20 billion RMB. 3 Such economical augmentation is due to the beneficial policies imposed by the government - – including abetments such as to the development of local tea companies (“企业培育实现新突破”), precluding the use of fertilizers (“优质基地建设上规模”), and developing the ability to provide even the minor details of different Pu’er (“平台体系建设取得新突破”). All policies are
essentially building credit and trustworthiness for Pu’er to further progress in the future. Other factors such as the sensationalization and the request for the legacy of non-tangible culture (申请非物质文化遗产) have no doubt also played a big part, both spreading the name of Pu’er to 4not only China but the world. In 2021, the Pu’er government imposed the policies for the next five years to continue to boost the Pu’er's economic value and growth through a series of gradual targets.
With all being done to the Pu’er industry, it sure does have a bright future; however, to what extent is still debated. Pu’er has come to light for decades. The intrinsic reason for the sky-high price of Pu’er is due to market manipulation. Pu’er itself does not have enough sales points to support it, resulting in market crashes, returning to the state of equilibrium. For example, the 2003 Pu’er barrels (普洱散筒), which sells at 6 million RMB will steadily drop to an acceptable range as it has - dropping 1.5 million RMB in the course of 6 months; and the Gushu tea drops from 2000 RMB to 1000 RMB this year. As a result, the industry will no longer be as profiteering as it was, especially when people have encountered other fraudulent products over the years – Naobai Jin（脑白金, a substance allegedly to promote nerve nutrition），Xiaoguan Cha（小罐茶,
small-canned precious tea)). Subsequently, customers will observe with extreme vigilance, and similar tactics will no longer be as effective.
The extended advertised health benefits of Pu’er are also debated. Some argue that in Pu’er, especially older Pu’er, there will be elements and bacteria beneficial to one’s health. However, the bacteria growth could not be controlled. In other words, there could be the development of healthy germs, which is the reason that it could alleviate and treat high cholesterol through the random development of Lovastatin, but it could also contain the harmful and unhealthy ones. Researchers have also discovered the benefit of lowering triglycerides and certain harmful LDL cholesterol and promoting Beneficial LDL cholesterol. Other rumored benefits, such as awakening effects and strengthening heart and blood vessels, could be simply due to the caffeine inside the Pu’er tea. Equipped with caffeine, Pu’er will not only show positive effects but also the harmful ones as well such as “headache, nervousness, sleep problems, vomiting, diarrhea, irritability, irregular heartbeat, tremor, heartburn, dizziness, ringing in the ears, convulsions, and confusion.”5 Although this is the case scientifically, Pu’er have already earned the reputation of being healthy even under the absence of solid statistics, showing that the vast majority of the consumers are not incredibly bothered to reveal and understand the real truth, or else the misconception will not last. Now that the impression the made, and due to the national trend and the herd behavior, it will only be more concrete. Subsequently, the deficit might not be as significant, or at least in China.
The main reason, in my opinion, that Pu’er is as accepted globally as many people anticipated is due to the confusion and ambiguity in it. Unlike wine or coffee, the whole Pu’er industry lacks a standardized procedure or protocol from top to bottom. The taste of Pu’er largely depend on the location of which it is planted. Each mountain produces Pu’er of different savour. Therefore, its most rudimentary factor could not even be well controlled. In the production line, all the steps demand skill from the workers. Although machines are adopted, the workers still have to judge
the timing based on his experience as no batch of leaves are the same, producing even more uncertainty. After it has been produced, the storage area is completely different once again. Even though tea cellars are appearing more and more, there is no uniformed standard for the storage of Pu’er. In the next level, the old Pu’ers, lots of blanks are not filled as well. No data regarding the composition of healthy and unhealthy bacteria and how they are produced are put under light; no one studied why two Pu’er, under the same condition, one will taste moldy and the other will not. Western countries are not always satisfied with uncertain factors, thus, not trending as it could have.
Some might believe that the cultural value of Pu’er, especially when request for the legacy of non-tangible culture are completed, will be a vital factor for its value. However, China has more meaningful and historical items and traditions than Pu’er. For instance, silk that has stunned the world, Shufa that could represent the Chinese rudimentary value, and Kongfu that the world respects, and in addition to the fact that every local municipality and province is trying to advertise their products - Chongqing’s hot pot, Xi An’s terracotta tomb, the great wall and the Forbidden City in Beijing, Pu’er is unlikely to become a top world-wide beverage like wine and coffee. However, considering the historical value and the tremendously prolonged hard work of the government, Pu’er is more than competent to held accountable as one of the Chinese national brands, though might not be the largest.
For another thing, the economic ceiling for the Pu’er market is far from reached. This is due to several reasons - only regional areas such as Yunnan can produce Pu’er, especially higher quality Pu’er; Local government prohibited cutting forests for the expansion of tea farms in Jing Mai, where the best Pu’er are produced; the market outside of China have yet been fully pullulated. All such factors add on to the value of Pu’er, and as the market steadily grow, the price of Pu’er will rise dramatically, bringing significantly more income to the tea farmers in the future.
Moreover, in the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Jingmai mountain in Yunnan, China, has been added to the World Heritage site, being China’s 57th entry to the sit but the first regarding tea around the globe. This not only adds uniqueness, but also prestige, attracting people to try it for the first time and augment the class of Pu’er as presents, further lightening the future of the tea.
All in all, Pu’er in Yunnan does have a future. The persistence and hard work for Pu’er over the decades shows its importance, and along with its history and value, the brand is rising, and it is apparently aiming to compete in a worldwide scale. However, in order to accomplish this goal, improvements will be necessary to be made such as standardizing the industry, and it will be challenging. The goal might not be reached soon, but it is obviously developing towards it. Therefore, tea farmers could rely on the Pu’er though actual breakthroughs might be a long time away.
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