[Explanation] Matcha originated in China and flourished in Japan. It is the only product in tea that has the functions of drinking, eating and makeup.
In recent years, Tongren City, Guizhou Province has vigorously developed the matcha tea industry and built the largest integrated matcha refining workshop in Asia. Matcha products are not only sold well in more than 30 cities in China, but also exported to more than 10 countries and regions overseas.
In 2018, Tongren City won the title of "China Matcha Capital".
[Explanation] In the early summer, I walked into the Guanyin Mountain Tea Garden in Jiangkou County, Tongren City, and the tea trees covered with shade cloth had reached the picking period.
Open the shade cloth, the green and bright tea leaves are fragrant.
[Concurrent] Chen Qiyong, a tea grower in Jiangkou County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province
When the tea leaves have sprouted to one bud and two leaves, they begin to cover the net.
Covering the net can generally be picked within 18 to 25 days. After the net is covered, it is necessary to observe frequently. As long as the tea leaves are green and tender, and the time is up, we can start picking.
[Explanation] Chen Qiyong, who is over fifty years old, is the owner of the Guanyin Mountain Tea Garden. At this moment, he is busy instructing the workers to pick tea leaves with machinery. According to him, when the weather is good, two machines can pick up more than 7,000 kilograms of fresh tea leaves every day. Tencha, the raw material for making matcha.
[Explanation] In 2008, Jiangkou County vigorously developed the tea industry, and Chen Qiyong took the lead in planting 1,200 mu of tea.
At that time, his tea garden mainly produced famous tea, and during the picking period, hundreds of workers were required to pick tea every day.
In 2017, since the development of the matcha tea industry in Jiangkou County, Chen Qiyong planned more than 200 acres of land from the tea garden as a matcha tea base.
[Concurrent] Chen Qiyong, a tea grower in Jiangkou County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province
(Matcha) is a fresh product. What I considered at the time was because of the lack of labor in my mountainous area. If I were to make traditional tea leaves, if all my 1,000 acres were mature, hundreds of people would have to pick them. Where can I find so many? Labor, the second consideration is that there is less labor, and the tea is picked by machine, and I don’t worry about selling it to your tea company, and the benefits are better than traditional tea. I considered these two aspects at the time.
[Explanation] Chen Qiyong introduced that matcha is not simply ground green tea into powder. First of all, the quality of the tea leaves should be good, and secondly, the tea trees must meet the standards of adulthood and mechanical harvesting.
Chen Qiyong is very familiar with the management and maintenance of the matcha base and the processing of grinding tea. In 2017, he also specially went to Japan to learn the management and maintenance experience of advanced tea gardens in neighboring countries.
[Concurrent] Chen Qiyong, a tea grower in Jiangkou County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province
When I went to Japan to study, I mainly learned about Japanese tea garden management, their tea garden standards, pruning standards, and fertilization.
Through studying in Japan and our current efforts, the tea gardens are now a little better than in previous years.
[Explanation] In addition to developing the matcha base, Chen Qiyong also opened a tencha processing line in the tea garden.
In the processing workshop, the reporter saw that the fresh tea leaves picked were turned into tencha after 40 minutes of processing.
[Explanation] The tencha processed by Chen Qiyong every year is sold to the Jiangkou Industrial Park of Guicha Group, which is 12 kilometers away, where there is currently the world's largest single matcha refining workshop.
In the 278-meter-long matcha comprehensive manufacturing workshop, after multiple steps such as "covering, cutting, steaming, cooling, baking, picking, sterilizing, and grinding", a box of matcha tea enters the packaging workshop from the production workshop.
[Concurrent] Lan Fangqiang, Deputy General Manager of Guizhou Guicha Group
We have 61 alliance enterprises in the province for primary processing.
Through the development of this precious tea alliance model in the province, we have led to an increase in the income of nearly 100,000 tea farmers.
Our main focus now is to make high-quality matcha. According to the development and export of matcha in recent years, our orders are increasing every year. The main exports are in countries and regions such as the United States, Germany, Russia and Japan. In China, we mainly use it in many bakeries, industrial food, and beverages.
[Explanation] Nowadays, in Tongren, the "matcha capital of China", the hot-selling overseas matcha has gradually evolved from drinking to a new "food" fashion locally. Matcha noodles, matcha latte, matcha yogurt and other matcha products are everywhere. It can be seen that many stores also sell daily necessities such as matcha facial masks and matcha toothpaste.
[Explanation] Data shows that the global demand for matcha is 12,000 tons per year, but the total global production of matcha is only about 5,000 tons, and the market gap is huge.
As a province with the largest tea plantation area in China, Guizhou proposes to focus on cultivating a single product of matcha to help Guizhou tea sail to the sea.
(Reported by reporter Pu Wensi, Zhou Yanling, Liu Meiling, Guizhou Tongren)
Responsible editor: [Wang Kai]