Exclusive look inside Guizhou tea at intl tea expo

Premium tea produced in southwest China's Guizhou province has generated a hot response from buyers at the third international Tea Expo in Hangzhou, being prized for its flavor, aroma, and it being free of pesticides. 

Fifty-three Guizhou tea enterprises participated in the expo. Top tea brands of Guizhou were exhibited, including Duyun Maojian Tea and Meitan Green Sprout Tea.

During the expo, Fengxiangyuan Tea Co signed the biggest deal among Guizhou enterprises, of two hundred tons tea valued at 12 million yuan ($6.9 million) with Shaoxing Royal Tea Village Co Ltd.

As one of the biggest tea companies in Guizhou province, Fengxiangyuan owns more than three thousand mu (200 hectares) of tea gardens and has an annual output of over 20 million yuan. Each year, one third of Fengxiangyuan's tea has been sold to Zhejiang Tea Group Co Ltd, one of the largest tea suppliers in China. 

Pu'an black tea was recommended at the expo by Jiang Yongwen, director of the China Tea Science Society. As Jiang noted, "Pu'an black tea is a prospective rookie in the tea market due to its good quality. In addition, the tea is produced in Pu'an county, Guizhou province, which has a tea planting core area with more than 20,000 wild ancient tea trees."

The Duyun Maojian Tea exhibition area has attracted numerous buyers. Visitors told reporters that Duyun Maojian was prevalent because of its unique sharp-edged sprout and fragrance. "It feels relieving to drink tea produced in Guizhou, as it is a place with less pollution," said one of the visitors.

Buyers in the Duyun Maojian Tea exhibition area [Photo/gog.cn]

By the end of 2018, tea gardens in Guizhou occupied a total area of 7 million mu (466,666.67 hectares), while the annual tea production reached 362,000 tons, with an output value of 39.4 billion yuan ($5 billion).

"Guizhou's tea industry has taken off rapidly in recent years with government support. Some worry about the excess capability of Guizhou tea," said Jiang Renhua, Party secretary of the Tea Research Institute of China Academy of Agriculture Science. "However, good tea always has a place in the market."

In addition, Guizhou has taken the lead to prohibit water-solubility pesticides in tea planting and to establish a monitoring network on tea production, as 120 kinds of pesticides are forbidden in Guizhou's tea growing, while the state-level is 55.

To date, Guizhou has established nine state-level quality and safety demonstration areas for export tea, accounting for a quarter of the country.

Li Hanyi contributed to this story