It is worth mentioning that among the tea ages that are not worth mentioning, the ones we drink are mostly premium or first grade teas.
There doesn’t seem to be much to be proud of, after all, from the 9.9 free shipping in the live broadcast room to the pricing red line, high-end products labeled on the bubble wrap can be bought in a wide range of pricing ranges, but when you get it and drink it, you feel lost and confused that “your premium seems different from mine”.
Leaving aside merchants who are blindly confident and do not label their products according to conventional standards, many products priced according to strict evaluation criteria have differences in style and quality among different manufacturers, varieties, and years of the same level.
As a reference information for the quality of rock tea, the product rating on the brewing bag is almost not our consumption reference and value reference nowadays, and the product attributes of rock tea rely on good quality to increase premium.
In the face of many rock teas with actual quality and grade labels that are distant, it is inevitable to ask the same question as “does rock tea have standards?” Is there a standard grade classification for rock tea, and what is the basis?
No.1 The classification of rock tea grades, Earlier than you imagine!
In fact, in the process of classifying rock tea, there are two levels of classification, namely region and variety.
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Dong Tiangong, a Caodon man, divided the quality of rock tea regionally in the Records of Wuyi Mountains. “The quality of rock tea can be divided into rock tea, continent tea, rock and river tea,… It can also be divided into south and north of the mountain, especially north of the mountain, followed by south of the mountain, and outside of the rock mountain, it is called Outer Mountain, which is different in clarity and turbidity.”
At the end of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty, Lu Tingcan’s “Continuation of the Classic of Tea” not only divided the regional levels of Yanshang and Zhoucha, but also distinguished them based on different tree species and flower names of different tea products
The best rock tea is called Japanese Kung Fu Tea, and if there are small varieties above Kung Fu, it is named after the tea tree, with only a few varieties per plant. Zhou Tea (tea grown by streams, roadsides, and sandy areas) is named after Longxu, Fengwei, Zihao, Lanxiang, Qingxiang, and so on
Looking at the rock wall behind the pouring pit from the mountaintop behind Tianxin Temple
Around the same period, Liu Jing also recorded in his book “A Brief Moment of Listening Collection”: “The highest type of rock tea is called Old Tree Xiaozhong, followed by Xiaozhong, Xiaozhong Gongfu, Gongfu, and Gongfu Flower Fragrance.” It can be seen that rock tea also had a trend of respecting the elderly, and old trees became the highest level product of that year.
In the literature records of the Qing Dynasty on the classification of rock tea, we can actually see the grading standards for premium, first grade, and second grade on the market today.
The tea trade flourished after the five ports were open to trade. In the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Amoy Tea (AT for short) was exported prosperously. In that year, the shipping mark of the export of Amoy Tea was marked with numbers according to different grades and varieties, such as AT103 (red pot big red robe), AT105 (small iron box of narcissus species), as well as the classic overseas selling tea of that year, marked with the iron Arhat of AT106.
One of the five tea houses in Mount Wuyi that were equally famous with Jiquan and Quanyuan in those days, Yaozhen was founded by Yang Yao, a Chaozhou native in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Today’s owner, Liu Shuishui, showed us a set of 31 tea seals of the same age as Yaozhen.
It can be seen that there are many words recorded with the name of the mountain site, such as name cluster, odd species, ti cluster, race, etc. It is said that there is a circle next to it marked with special high-grade tea, such as the name cluster of patio rock, the name cluster of ruiquan rock, and the name cluster of cabernet rock.
The seal with the top exotic species does not refer to the concepts of areas such as Yanshang and Zhengyan, but rather to the designation of product grade.
During the Republic of China period, both Jiang Shunan as a tourist and Liao Cunren and Lin Fuquan as tea scholars had similar levels of classification. Among them, the tea tree varieties, famous clusters, and finished tea products of Wuyi tea could already be compared.
For example, in 1921, Jiang Shunan recorded that the Dahongpao, which cost 64 silver yuan per kilogram, belonged to the highest level of upper rare species. For example, in 1924, Xu Ke’s “Ke Yan” recorded that an iron Arhat in Yimao (1915) was worth eight yuan per kilogram of silver coins, and the most expensive one was twenty yuan per kilogram, which would be one hundred and sixty yuan… “
If you convert the price of Iron Arhat in that year, it is the name cluster of ten thousand yuan. It can also be seen that the price of tea is directly related to the different grade classifications.
No.2 The classification of rock tea grades,Stricter than you imagine!
From the Qing Dynasty to the present, the grading of rock tea has evolved in different periods, gradually forming a strict set of grading differences that are consistent from planting, production, packaging, and sales.
From the early packaging, before the Republic of China, rock tea of general commodity grade was mainly sold as loose tea, while high-end rock tea was mostly wrapped in small bags made of cotton paper and stamped with corresponding tea stamps. This packaging method was called “tiger head packaging” at that time.
Tiger head buns are actually just a packaging method, not exclusive to rock tea. Many traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies also use tiger head buns to package Chinese medicine
For more advanced rock tea, there was only one packaging method at that time, which was tin cans. In his book “Notes on Returning to the Fields,” Liang Zhangju not only recorded the “lively and sweet fragrance” of rock tea, but also documented the storage methods of rock tea at that time. He said that the highest grade rock tea at that time was called “Qizhong”.
Among the thirty-six peaks, only a few peaks have them. They are stored in various temples and monasteries, with each type weighing no more than one kilogram. They are stored in extremely small tin bottles and placed in large bottles of famous seeds. Occasionally, when distinguished guests and celebrities come to the mountain, a small amount of them will be solemnly harvested. Those who give them away in small bottles are also named as rare seeds, but they are all famous seeds, mixed with papaya, plum blossoms and other things to enhance their fragrance. They are not truly rare seeds
The amount of information recorded in this section shows that the best tea at that time was stored in “extremely small tin bottles”.
In the era of unified purchase and sales before the reform and opening up, the grade of rock tea was strictly controlled at every stage. It is said that when the main factory classified rock tea grades, any tea picked and made on rainy days could not enter the A-level sequence.
When we interviewed the former director of the Rock Tea Factory before, he recalled telling us that in the early days of manual picking, leftover leaves and single pieces could not be harvested from the beginning, and the green leaves were graded when they were green. If high-grade green leaves were turned into secondary hairy tea, we would even be held responsible.
At that time, there were very strict and clear classification standards for different varieties and their corresponding grades. The director of the Rock Tea Factory said, “In the past, tea was piled up in a decreasing order of famous rock clusters, ordinary famous clusters, varieties, and rare varieties. For example, famous clusters were classified into 9 levels, with varieties being varieties and famous clusters being famous clusters. Moreover, famous rock clusters were all planted in famous rocks
It is said that there are 11 grades of narcissus, and the tea above grade 5 is from the rock. In the mid-1980s, there was only 150 kg of super narcissus in Mount Wuyi.
Not only are the grades of narcissus and mingcong strictly classified, but after the widespread promotion and production of cinnamon, there are very few batches that can reach special grade.
I remember when we interviewed the old tea man of Huiyuan Tea Factory, in the 1980s, as the first director of Mount Wuyi Tea Refinery, most of the tea in Tianxin Village was sent to Xiamen Import and Export Corporation from tea farmers through the Refinery. He took out his notebook and told us that in 1991, there were only two kinds of best super cinnamon in the village.
Once, it was difficult to drink a cup of premium rock tea, but now it’s also difficult not to drink a cup of premium rock tea.
No.3 Nowadays, the grading of rock tea,What is the basis?
Of course, it is based on the current national standard for rock tea. The grade rating on the packaging of rock tea products needs to be implemented according to the national standard GB/T-18745-2006 “Wuyi Rock Tea”.
In the national standard for rock tea, there are five major categories of products: cinnamon, narcissus, Dahongpao, Mingcong, and Qizhong. Different categories have different grades, and the evaluation of their grades requires reference to the physical samples of Wuyi rock tea national standards. Enterprises and manufacturers of different scales also have a series of complex evaluation procedures in the process of product grading and testing.
From a quality perspective alone, nowadays product grading is more based on manual sensory quality evaluation on the basis of national standards. Different manufacturers also grade their products according to their own styles and characteristics.
In addition to manual sensory evaluation, there are now many tests for physical and chemical indicators of rock tea, such as electronic nose, electronic tongue technology, headspace solid-phase microextraction, near-infrared infrared detection method 81, and hyperspectral detection method, to improve the standardization and objectivity of the tea grading process.
Under the complex characteristics of rock tea itself, there will be grade differences between different tea tree varieties. The grade label on the tea bag is only one of the information we use as a reference for tea quality, but we also hope that there will be more genuine labels before we unpack the bag.