Key Word One: Starbucks Tea Bar
What is the relationship between "Starbucks" and tea? In the past year of 2013, Starbucks replaced "Lipton" as a new topic of conversation. A popular phrase captured the changing dynamics between Chinese tea and Starbucks: going to Starbucks to drink Chinese tea. This year, Starbucks opened its first dedicated "Tea Bar" in the United States. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Group, stated that the "Tea Bar" is vastly different from Starbucks coffee shops; the entire "Tea Bar" is imbued with a Zen-like atmosphere, quite distinct from the casual and relaxed style of the coffee shops. The opening of the "Tea Bar" marks Starbucks' formal entry into the $90 billion global tea market. Is this Starbucks falling in love with Chinese tea, or is it Chinese tea stepping onto the international stage?
Key Word Two: Financing
China's tea industry is accelerating its transformation and upgrading. Local governments have introduced various preferential policies and support measures to actively support and promote companies going public. Many tea enterprises have embarked on the path of capital markets, attempting to accelerate their growth and strengthening. At the same time, numerous venture capital firms, private equity funds, and other forms of capital have set their sights on high-quality Chinese tea companies. However, in January, the China Securities Regulatory Commission terminated the IPO review of Fujian Anxi Tieguanyin Group. Subsequently, companies like Huaxiangyuan voluntarily withdrew their IPO applications, leaving the title of the true "First Share of China's Tea Industry" still up for grabs.
Nevertheless, 2013 also brought good news from the capital market for the tea industry. The steadily developing Bama Tea Industry successfully secured investments from four major venture capital institutions, including IDG Capital, Tiantu Capital, and Tongchuang Weiye Venture Capital, achieving Series A financing of approximately 150 million RMB. This is, to date, the largest and first venture capital investment in China's tea industry. The financing path for tea enterprises undoubtedly still lacks capital market experience, but this will be the next battlefield for tea companies.
Key Word Three: Alliance
In 2013, many purely non-governmental tea organizations quietly formed within China's tea industry. Examples include the "Tea Media Alliance" initiated by Shenzhen Huajuchen Company, the "New Revival Plan for China's Tea Industry" initiated by Zhou Zhonglin, the "Chinese Teahouse Alliance" initiated by Zhang Weihua (Boyuan Charen), and the "China Tea Industry Chain Alliance" initiated by Huacai Media. Although these alliance organizations have played a role in integrating resources and promoting tea culture, the author once stated during a related alliance roundtable: "The tea industry is small and fragmented, making it difficult to truly unite and form a combined force. Large-scale alliances can easily become superficial, while the influence of smaller, niche alliances is limited. So, everyone is trying while contributing their own part." To be honest, "Tea as a Medium" initiated the cross-industry organization "Tea as a Medium Alliance" at the end of 2011, which has so far only developed several hundred member units.
Key Word Four: Going Online
According to a survey by the China Tea Marketing Association: Currently, a large proportion of major domestic tea companies have already opened flagship stores on Tmall, reaching as high as 87%; the number of small and medium-sized enterprises and individual businesses is even more countless. On "Double 11" in 2013, the sales volume in the tea category was 92,491,056.00 RMB, a staggering 283% increase compared to the 32,646,307.00 RMB sales on "Double 11" in 2012. Based on this, it is evident that after years of "pioneering," tea e-commerce has ushered in a comprehensive era of "going online." Particularly noteworthy is that some traditional branded tea companies, after going online, rewrote the history of pure e-commerce tea brands leading the way in 2013. The online performance of brands like Longrun Tea, Dayi Puer, and Bama became new benchmarks for traditional tea enterprises venturing online.
Key Word Five: Tea Chat
Headlines like "So-and-so School Leader Holds Tea Chat with Faculty" or "So-and-so Leader Has Tea Chat with Old Friends" became familiar and heartwarming sights for tea enthusiasts in 2013. "Tea chat" refers to drinking tea and chatting, typically suitable for brief, simple gatherings. While China's red wine fever made wine parties synonymous with fashion and high-end, "tea chat" gained popularity alongside the national leadership's focus on Chinese culture. Not only did national leaders adopt tea chats for meeting foreign guests during visits, but the term itself also became imbued with warmth and sentiment. The流行 of tea chats might signify a return to温情.
Key Word Six: Aged White Tea
In 2013, the charm of White Tea began to bloom across the country. If you are a dedicated tea aficionado, you would have noticed that in tea circles in some cities and at major national exhibitions, another tea was上演 the "aged tea" story — Aged White Tea. One of the most common slogans was: "One year is tea, three years is medicine, seven years is treasure." Not only were there White Tea specialty stores in major tea markets, but many tea shops also quietly started displaying White Tea. Furthermore, White Tea featured on CCTV, and the first film themed around White Tea, "Master," began filming. These phenomena all point to the budding power of White Tea.
It is understood that compared to Black Tea and Green Tea, White Tea, also one of the six major tea categories, has long remained relatively low-key in the domestic market. The revival of White Tea first showed signs as early as 2011, but the year it truly blossomed everywhere was precisely the past year, 2013.
Key Word Seven: Transformation and Adjustment
In 2013, macroeconomic policies continuously influenced the tea market. On March 1st, the new standard "Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides in Food," jointly issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health Commission, officially came into effect, becoming the sole mandatory national standard for supervising pesticide residues in food. Tea products sold on the market must comply with 25 pesticide residue standards. On April 23rd, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Sustainable and Healthy Development of Tea Production," explicitly stating the need to stabilize the area of tea gardens while strengthening the renovation of old tea gardens. It promoted green pest control technologies, aiming to increase yield, improve quality, enhance效益, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of tea production. At the end of 2013, the China National Tea Development Strategy Expert Seminar and the Inauguration of the National Tea Expert Committee were held, with over 80 experts and scholars from the tea industry, cultural circles, and other fields across the country participating.
On one hand, there was national emphasis on agriculture; on the other hand, policies like the "Eight Regulations" continued to have an impact. Tea enterprises collectively found themselves in a state of迷茫 in 2013. However, some experts pointed out that against the backdrop of affected high-end products, mid-to-low grade teas for mass consumption might usher in opportunities for growth and market expansion. Key Word Eight: Deep Processing
Currently, the global tea supply exceeds demand. The total global annual tea demand is approximately 3 million tons, while the current annual supply has reached about 3.5 million tons. China's tea industry clearly faces overcapacity. In recent years, the European Union has repeatedly raised the pesticide residue inspection standards for tea exported from China, putting immense pressure on many export-oriented tea enterprises. Consequently, technologically capable companies have developed deep-processed tea products such as instant tea, tea wine, tea toothpaste, tea ham, tea seed oil, and tea polyphenol sunscreen. The launch of some of these products has fundamentally broken the centuries-old image of tea. Although we have yet to see classic success stories, the exploration and innovation regarding future trends are worthy of learning and consideration within the tea industry.
Yang Xiufang, Vice President of the Hangzhou Tea Research Institute of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, once revealed that the deep processing rate for tea in Japan is 40%, while in China, it is less than 10%. Clearly, there is a significant gap between the domestic tea deep processing rate and that of Japan, indicating considerable room for development in domestic tea deep processing.
Key Word Nine: Watching the Documentary
"Tea: Story of the Leaf," whether you have seen it or not, has been written into the history of the tea industry in 2013, becoming an indelible and unavoidable classic. "Screening events" held across various places, the broadcast on CCTV, and the flood of reviews made tea a focal point for learning and exchange. Luo Ming, Editor-in-Chief of China Central Television, said that "Tea: Story of the Leaf" is another documentary by CCTV's Documentary Channel, following "A Bite of China," "Peking Opera," and "The Silk Road," that传播 the charm of cultural China and conveys the vitality of contemporary China. It tells the stories of tea people and, through关注 individual destinies, expresses the Chinese people's judgment of the world and the era.
Director Wang Chongxiao said that the film focuses on telling "tea people and tea stories," showcasing their sweat, journeys, joy, sorrow, love, death, awakening, and transformation,感悟 the impact of tea culture on everyone. "One brew of tea is one kind of life; every tea practitioner is actually cultivating their own tea ceremony. And the so-called tea ceremony is a gentle exploration of perfection within our lives, which we all know are imperfect — even if it's just for the duration of a cup of tea."
Key Word Ten: Speculation
In 2013, speculation in Pu'er tea卷土重来. From industry insiders speculating on the raw materials of ancient tree tea to CCTV's "adding fuel to the fire," from the暴涨 of Lao Ban Zhang to the持续高烧 surrounding Bing Dao, Yi Wu, Da Yi, Yulin Guchafang, etc., insiders were "startled and apprehensive," while outsiders watched through a fog. Particularly for some categories chased by hot money and speculative capital, the highest price increases甚至 reached up to five times! Such rapid and incomprehensible price hikes continued their疯狂演绎, with no one knowing when the peak or end would be.
Actually, what deserves the most reflection is not the commercial speculation itself, but the crisis facing the protection of ancient tea trees. Yu Xiang, Vice President of the Yunnan Pu'er Tea Association, stated in an interview that the protection of ancient tea trees has fallen into a "vicious cycle" where profit-driven over-harvesting leads to reduced yields.