At the Panama International Exposition in 1915, Xinyang Maojian and Guizhou Moutai won the gold medal and were rated as one of the top ten famous teas in the country. Now, more than 100 years later, the status of Xinyang Maojian in China's tea industry has appeared polarized. On the one hand, many tea lovers insist that Xinyang Maojian is the king of green tea, on the other hand, many people have not heard or seen and have not drunk Xinyang Maojian, believing that it is not worthy of the title of top ten famous teas. So, what about the Xinyang Maojian? Why is it less well-known than the other top ten teas? Today, Lao Yang takes everyone to talk about this topic.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > First, the past and present lives of Xinyang Maojian</h1>
Xinyang has a long history of tea production, as early as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the territory was widely planted with tea trees. This is in line with the transfer of the political, economic and cultural centre of our country. Tea was first native to the Yunnan-Guichuan region, and later with the political, economic and cultural center to the Central Plains, all the way through the Sichuan-Shaanxi Avenue into Shaanxi and eastern Henan, and along the Yangtze River to the middle and lower reaches of the development. By the time of the Tang Dynasty, Xinyang had become one of the most important tea-producing areas in the country.
In the Tea Classic of Tea Saint Lu Yu, Xinyang is included in the Huainan Tea District. By the time of the Song Dynasty, there were thirteen tea mountain farms in the country, and Gwangju, Zi'an, and Shangcheng in Xinyang occupied three of them. Therefore, there is a great literary hero Su Dongpo Shiyun: Huainan tea Xinyang first.
After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the scale of Xinyang tea production was further expanded, and gradually spread to surrounding counties and cities, forming a tea-producing area dominated by Xinyang, Luoshan, Guangshan, Gushi, Shangcheng, Huangchuan and so on. As for the tea name Xinyang Maojian, according to the data, it first appeared in the last year of the Qing Dynasty. On the basis of introducing and absorbing advanced tea making technology, the local eight major tea houses have formed a relatively complete Maojian tea stir-frying process in combination with the local tea characteristics of Xinyang. Xinyang tea made by this process was named Xinyang Maojian and won the gold medal of the Panama International Exposition in 1915.
After the founding of New China, Xinyang Maojian gained the opportunity for great development, and the production area was further expanded, but the name was changed to "Yu Mao Feng" and "Yu Mao Qing". Among them, the tea produced in Xinyang County and the southern part of Luoshan mountain is called "Yumaofeng", while the tea produced by Guangshan, Huangchuan, Shangcheng, Xinxian and Gushi is called "Yumaoqing". Therefore, within the Maojian of Xinyang, there are also the Yiyang sect and the Gwangju school.
In the mid-1990s, based on the integration of brand resources and other factors, on the basis of expert argumentation, the Maojian tea produced in the same latitude, the same process, the same quality and the same region was collectively called Xinyang Maojian. At this point, Xinyang Maojian has become a regional public brand, covering all tea production areas in the eight counties and two districts of Xinyang. In 2003, Xinyang Maojian became a geographical indication certification trademark and began to enter a new chapter of development.
In 2007, Xinyang Maojian won the "World Green Tea Congress" China Green Tea Gold Award, known as the "King of Green Tea". In 2017, in the regional brand value evaluation of Tea in China, Xinyang Maojian ranked second in the brand value ranking with 5.991 billion yuan. Therefore, the reputation and status of Xinyang Maojian are indeed extraordinary, and it is deserved to be rated as one of the top ten famous teas in the country.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > Second, why is Xinyang Maojian less well-known than the other top ten famous teas? </h1>
In my opinion, Xinyang Maojian is one of the best green teas in the northern production area, but the fame does not seem to be as big as the Six Angua Slices and Rizhao Green Tea. Why is that? I think it is inseparable from the following three aspects.
First, regional cognitive distortion.
Whether you admit it or not, in the current consumer group, when it comes to green tea, everyone first thinks of the Jiangnan Tea District, and thinks of the West Lake Longjing, Biluochun and Huangshan Maofeng. These national famous teas are also old and more well-known. From a historical point of view, it is because after the Song Dynasty, China's political, economic and cultural center has shifted from the Central Plains to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, especially the Jiangnan region.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, although the capital was chosen in the north, the most developed area of economic and trade in the whole was still the south. The prosperity of tea production and consumption is closely related to the development of trade. Even in modern times, this status quo has not changed. Most of Xinyang Maojian is consumed by locals, and out of Henan, its popularity and purchasing power have plummeted. There are more or less serious deviations in everyone, which also have an impact on the spread of Xinyang Maojian's reputation.
The second is that imitation tea impacts the market.
Xinyang Maojian belongs to high-end tea, with higher prices and larger profit margins. Originally, this characteristic will drive the development of the overall industry. However, it also gives unscrupulous traders an opportunity to take advantage of it. After seeing that xinyang maojian was profitable, many people began to imitate Xinyang maojian to shoddy and fake the real. For example, the use of low-cost tea tree raw materials in Sichuan or Hubei, according to the process of Maojian, imitated as an authentic Xinyang Maojian, sold to consumers who do not know the truth and false.
Of course, this situation also occurs frequently in other famous teas. For example, in West Lake Longjing, there may be more than half of the tea in the market. This imitation tea has greatly hurt the brand reputation of Xinyang Maojian, so that many people dare not buy or drink.
Third, the output is small and the publicity is not effective.
Among the top ten famous teas in the country, the output of Xinyang Maojian is relatively small. Although according to the data, by the end of 2020, the local tea garden area reached 2.153 million mu, the total output of tea was 75,000 tons, and the total output value was 13 billion yuan, but the real core production area output was small, mainly distributed in Jiyun Mountain, Cheyun Mountain, Lianyun Mountain, Tianyun Mountain, Yunwu Mountain, Bailongtan, Heilongtan, Hejiazhai and other places, collectively known as Wuyun Two Ponds and One Village. There are few high-quality tea leaves in the core production areas, the market is in short supply, and counterfeit and inferior products are full of them, making the entire market chaotic.
At the same time, the publicity and promotion of Xinyang Maojian often takes the side of the sword, paying too much attention to the high-end market and the tea king award. It's not that it's not bad to do this, but it's not grounded, and it's hard to attract widespread attention among the general consumer group. After all, the power of the masses is the greatest, and if you want to increase your popularity, you must publicize it and let everyone know. At present, outside Henan Province, Xinyang Maojian is not well known, and many people do not even know that there is this tea.
All in all, the authentic Xinyang Maojian is of superior quality and indeed worthy of the title of the top ten famous teas in the country. However, if we want to develop further, Xinyang Maojian still has a long way to go. Well, that's it for today. Do you usually like to drink Xinyang Maojian? What do you think of Xinyang Maojian? Feel free to leave a message below and share your tea drinking experience.