nezikin- tea businesses

8 shvat 5781 

ah business. it helps supply us with tea and helps lighten our suppl of money. economics. capitalism. supply and demand. other word$.

the tea trade is a business and it is a pretty big one in China. with the growth of Chinese tea consumption in the west and also the growth in China's overall domestic economy, the tea trade has become an even bigger business. this brings more money into rural villages hopefully also brings an improvement in quality of life. but these tea companies are not magnanimous do-gooders no matter how much they advertise all the 'good' they are doing for tea farmers. they are trying to make money. and that’s fine, don’t let me stop you from getting your bags (unless you do so underhandedly and by deceiving people. then screw you).  

some of these companies are run entirely by well-to-do westerners and they are aiming their marketing at other well to do westerners. some of these companies are run by people from Yunnan and other tea producing provinces and they are marketing towards well to do westerners. this all makes sense. if you want to make money, that is a good business plan. i am writing this as a not well to do westerner.

 

i don’t know if you all have noticed it yet but, i am not a fan of capitalism. i grew up white and middle class. right now i make $28,000 a year because i did not want to go graduate school and work a normal job. the job i have now i chose for the health care and its values. not its money. i stay because of the health care, the values, and the great people. we'll see how long that lasts.

 

one of the reasons i am not a fan of capitalism is because it does not work for me (and i think it doesn’t work for a lot of others too). i have disabilities and it is hard to do the grind you gotta do to be successful and also deal with all the medical things in my life which feels like a part/full time job as it is. maybe you also feel this way. maybe you don’t feel this way at all and capitalism is going great for you. that is great to hear, i am happy for you and i hope youre also donating to some charities and being nice to others.

 

all of this is to say, i need to resist getting suckered into the marketing ploys of tea companies.

 

there's a lot of tea out there. tea is something that is produced every year (the issue of climate change and its affects on agriculture is another topic). there is plenty of tea. but companies want us to feel like there is a very liited quantity. if they make us feel like there is a scarcity of tea, then we are tempted to buy it lest the world runs out of tea. the essence of capitalism is that there must be constant growth in order for it to work. to increase growth you can either increase your market or you can have your current market increase their spending. the other main way of increasing growth is by cutting expenses, usually labor (sorry employees). trying to increase growth year after year us hard. but hey, we gotta sell that ___.

 

i don’t want to fall pray to the past worries ive expressed about feeling like theres so much tea out there and i need to try all of it. no. i do not need to try all of it. tea is something i should enjoy. it is not something that should give me anxiety (which can also come from over caffeinattion). some of this anxiety comes from the industry as the price of puer has increased. one reason orices have increased is because of the growing popularity of puer, especially outside China. as the Chinese economy increases and people earn more money, the market price of everything increases.  

 

puer gets tricky when it comes to discussing supply and demand (i am no where close to being an economist). there is a limited amount of ‘old arbor’ trees and wild trees. during the cultural revolution, with the intent of increasing yield, lots of old puer trees were cut down and replaced with either rubber trees or younger tea trees. younger trees produce more leaves and they wanted to increase production. this is the same reason why people prune their fruit trees. the aim was to make trees produce more leaves. they were not concerned with preserving old or wild trees. i do not know the modern ratio of old growth and wild arbor trees compared to plantation trees. so, in theory, there is a limited number of ‘premium’ leaves (ones from old growth and/or wild trees). but to what degree is it limited and by how much would it impact supply and demand i have no clue. 

 

i want to find tea that i like. yes, i have to try a good amount to find out what that is, but when i do find it, i aim to be satisfied with it. i do not want to feel like i am missing out and must buy this item while it is on sale and before its price increases next year or before it's all gone etc.

 

it is similar to how i view books. as a writer, when i read books, i am studying them and dissecting them and picking apart their craft. this is how i have become with tea. i am too busy evaluating it and judging it rather than submerging myself in it and experiencing it. yes, i need to steep myself in the tea. couldn’t resist the tea pun…

 

i do not want to sound naive. i know commerce is a fact of modern life and i know business is not fueled by trying to please everyone. it is how people make a living and it has been going on for centuries/millennia. 

tea, despite all the este(a)em it may have isnt a happy go lucky trust fund leaf. tea trees have to make a living too. tea was once used as a literal currency. during the time of the ‘tea horse road,’ tongs of tea were literally traded for horses (horses were a valuable asset to warring groups in China and tea was a stimulating and nutrient dense commodity for people in the Ural mountains where horses are native). 

 

there is also the tradition of tribute tea and the best tea being offered to the emperor. there is tea’s history of starting out as a drink for the elite and the literati. this tea for the elite was always prepared by servants who did not get to drink what they were making. there were also Buddhists who valued it for its aid in meditation. over time, tea became a beverage of the masses. tea was a part of China’s culture and was bound up in every facet of that culture. it is a medicine, it is a business, it is a status symbol, and it is a stimulant. tea is everywhere and is inextricable from China’s economic landscape. 

James, at TeaDB wrote a great post talking about marketing techniques used by business of all kinds and how we see this in the tea business specifically. as ive said a few times on this blog so far, i dont want my buying habits motivated by fear, anxiety, fomo, or retail therapy. the business do want that. 

now i will get cheesy. we can choose what water we want to steep our tea leaves in. tap water, filtered water, spring water, etc. time to get metaphorical. i do not want to pour water from the collector, or the investor, or the bargain hunter. i want to pour water from the spring of someone who loves to brew, drink, and share great tea.