What kind of chemical reaction occurs when Tea, fragrance, and ceramics, seemingly unrelated elements, are combined? This summer, the “Tens of Miles Tea Fragrance” team from East China University of Science and Technology's (ECUST) School of Chemistry, as part of the 2024 “Ten Thousand Students Enter a Thousand Villages and Hundred Enterprises” initiative, innovatively integrated these three elements: using university technology to transform tea into high-value-added perfume balm products. This not only brought tangible economic benefits to tea farmers but also injected new vitality into rural revitalization. Through cooperation with the Jingdezhen Ceramic industry, these perfume balms were adorned with exquisite ceramic packaging, further elevating their cultural value and market competitiveness.
According to Professor Wang Limin from ECUST's School of Chemistry, “The ‘Tens of Miles Tea Fragrance' team is rooted in the millennia-old tea and fragrance cultures, dedicated to developing daily-use derivative products to achieve high-value transformation of tea.”
Under Professor Wang Limin's guidance, the “Tens of Miles Tea Fragrance” team developed a series of tea-based cosmetic products, including the Tens of Miles Tea Fragrance balm, based on research into the Ten Li Xiang tea from Yunnan. To study different regional tea derivatives more deeply, the team traveled to the tea-growing regions of Huzhou, Zhejiang, and Wuyuan, Jiangxi, during this summer vacation, integrating the power of university science and technology to empower the tea industry and revitalize ancient Tea culture through innovation.
At the planting base of San Gui Yu Ya, a famous tea from Huzhou, tea farmers follow traditional methods, hand-picking leaves to ensure purity and quality. The team innovatively proposed extracting fragrances from leftover tea leaves to develop daily-use derivative products, increasing farmers' income. The tea factory responded positively, promising to provide raw materials support and collaborating with the team to create perfume balm products imbued with the essence of Huzhou's tea culture.
In Moganshan, a sacred site of tea culture, the team proposed setting up preliminary processing of tea raw materials around Moganshan, transferring deep processing to Shanghai, and jointly promoting sales with the Moganshan scenic area, with support from the local government, to ensure wide marketing of the perfume balm products.
Furthermore, the “Tens of Miles Tea Fragrance” team plans to use Jingdezhen ceramics as the outer packaging for the perfume balm products, providing consumers with a visually more elegant experience and enhancing the cultural connotation of the perfume balm. “The aroma of tea gives the perfume balm a unique charm, while the exquisite ceramic packaging allows this charm to be better presented and spread. We hope that through such practices, more people will come to understand and love tea culture, ensuring its inheritance and promotion,” said Professor Wang Limin. In the future, the “Tens of Miles Tea Fragrance” team will continue to explore diverse integration paths for tea, fragrance, and ceramics, contributing more to rural revitalization and cultural heritage preservation.
Author: Wu Jinkao
Text by Wu Jinkao; Images courtesy of East China University of Science and Technology