I have thought about how an opinion or perception is formed for tea regarding the gaoshan of Spring this year. (For Taiwan)
Before even drinking any of this Spring's tea, one could have been led too much by the reports of this being a rough season for tea. This can lead a buyer in various ways.
For myself: I felt that what I want would be difficult to obtain; so, if I sampled tea that is good, I should secure a significant amount earlier than I usually do; or, if I don't find good gaoshan early in the season, I must remember to double my sampling (forgetting that often a so-called "disappointing season" proves to produce some very good tea late). That feeling is irrational for me, but it was how I felt. I needed to reconfirm I can be ruled by "objective" tasting & that I have sources that will hold tea for me that I am likely to buy while not committed. (As it happened the 2 goashan that I like presented themselves fairly early.)
Second effect of reading that a season is bad or quite different, is to have perception changed. Indeed, my memory of early tasting is that the season produced a much lighter drink. Months later when starting to drink the tea for enjoyment, not judgment, I am finding that it is not so much lighter or different.
Mouthfeel is the difference for the most part. I feel I am drinking what is not as thick or heavy, but not too light; &, there is lots of flavor. Shanlinxi that I thought of as close to boazhong, is not so close to BZ. (Another tea from last Winter was sweet for its first infusion & perhaps I was anxious to find a substitute for that goashan w/ a bit of BZ.) The SLX may have a bit of character that reminds some people of BZ, but overwhelmingly it is top of the mountain tea, not low altitude. (Some greater fragrance & floral notes, does not a BZ make.) Dayuling's array of flavors is broader than usual this Spring; however, again fragrant aroma & a floral flavor among many other flavors: vegetal, fresh, deep, high mountain.... does not speak "BZ".
You get the idea.
I have reminded people that goashan from Winter 2022 is still good to use & will continue to brew properly; so, those who want Winter tea, don't need to go w/o it, if stocks they have run out of it. Nonetheless, Spring 2022 has some excellent tea & the difference between seasons may be assumed to be greater than it is when the first words about a season effect our judgment. Drinking the 2 gaoshan that I have from this Spring now (when not comparing them to Winter & not worrying if they are good enough) I am relaxed enough to enjoy how they are special & different, even if not hugely different.
Cheers
Taiwan's Spring 2022 gaoshan
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Ethan Kurland
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I imagine a few scenarios for the consumer when faced with information that a season was poor (e.g., frost damage, too much rain). For 2022 spring, i understand that it was too much rain.
What i am interested in knowing is what happens to tea prices in Taiwan when this happens. Does lower quality lead to lower demand and then lower price? Something tells me no, as they can probably always be sold for premium to people who want "taiwan" teas in the same way that some may want Napa wines.
- Skip the season altogether, and drink from the stash, or purchase more from elsewhere that doesn't have this problem.
- Still purchase but buy higher quality tea (pay more) to get acceptable quality.
- Still purchase, but with advice from trusted curator/friend who did some work sampling. Bad seasons unlikely affects all teas in a region equally.
- Still purchase same teas as before- not caring about lower quality.
What i am interested in knowing is what happens to tea prices in Taiwan when this happens. Does lower quality lead to lower demand and then lower price? Something tells me no, as they can probably always be sold for premium to people who want "taiwan" teas in the same way that some may want Napa wines.
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Ethan Kurland
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People living in Taiwan can answer this question better than I can in general. I can only speak for my sources who have not raised prices for tea when they think it is better than usual. They have never discussed me buying tea that is lower than average quality; so, the issue of prices going down w/ low quality won't come up. (When I say "average quality" or "usual tea", I refer to what I always get, the specific teas which are the better & best.)
I have become spoiled by what you stated in your post: Some excellent tea is usually available at the top of the quality ladder & one can buy less tea some seasons. I have run out of some of the several teas that I drink regularly leading me to do w/o 1 or 2 in my usual rotation for 2 - 3 months a few times. (I did not go insane.)
What I sell for has been effected by the increased cost of shipping & the dollar going down in value. (Fortunately, there is a slight change in that downward trend. Let's hope it continues.)
I don't know the tea industry, but I do wonder how long it will be until tea farmers (or wholesalers, or retailers) might adopt the kind of pricing that exists in the wine world.
For example, somewhere like Burgundy is hit by frosts, hail, rain, heat waves, etc, from time to time. They seem to price according to what the market will bear. The market doesn't like bad wine, so the good vintages get higher prices. Similarly, hail can turn good wine bad if the vines have to put their efforts into surviving instead of making ideal grapes.
But there is nevertheless an underlying demand for the wine, more or less. So if hail destroys half of the vines in one sub-region but leaves another sub-region unscathed, or if one sub-region has too much rain but another sub-region has optimal conditions, then the prices in the former in each case may reflect a reduction in quality, whereas the prices in the other may reflect an increase in demand.
I assume that most tea farmers don't (or can't) take out currency or commodity options to try to mitigate against loss. I also don't know if they enter into 'en primeur' types of arrangements to sell future tea at fixed prices to ensure cashflow regardless of quality issues.
As I have said before, though, I am glad that there is no single person (or small handful of persons) who can post reviews which cause one year's tea to be worth two to four times the price of the previous year's tea (at least so far as I am aware), unlike in the wine world...
Andrew
For example, somewhere like Burgundy is hit by frosts, hail, rain, heat waves, etc, from time to time. They seem to price according to what the market will bear. The market doesn't like bad wine, so the good vintages get higher prices. Similarly, hail can turn good wine bad if the vines have to put their efforts into surviving instead of making ideal grapes.
But there is nevertheless an underlying demand for the wine, more or less. So if hail destroys half of the vines in one sub-region but leaves another sub-region unscathed, or if one sub-region has too much rain but another sub-region has optimal conditions, then the prices in the former in each case may reflect a reduction in quality, whereas the prices in the other may reflect an increase in demand.
I assume that most tea farmers don't (or can't) take out currency or commodity options to try to mitigate against loss. I also don't know if they enter into 'en primeur' types of arrangements to sell future tea at fixed prices to ensure cashflow regardless of quality issues.
As I have said before, though, I am glad that there is no single person (or small handful of persons) who can post reviews which cause one year's tea to be worth two to four times the price of the previous year's tea (at least so far as I am aware), unlike in the wine world...
Andrew
It's not spring 2022, but in 2023 it seems the high mountain harvest will be delayed until May, or even June... no rain at all for weeks on end. Some of my sources are quite worried about this harvest. Be ready for little yield and possibly higher prices...
Out of curiosity, I wonder how many harvests have ideal weather conditions. It seems like most springs have either been too rainy or too dry.
I wish I'd gotten into tea earlier.
Yeah, but I think centuries of passed down know how and intuition is difficult to transplant… possibly more pressing crops to grow will also make it less attractive to deal with a luxury leaf.Shine Magical wrote: ↑Thu Apr 13, 2023 7:19 amI think the logic is that the tea climates will shift to different countries over time
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Ethan Kurland
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It is not uncommon for better-than-average tea to be part of worse-than-average seasons' yields. I've been smart and/or lucky waiting for leaves to be harvested on some patch of land to somehow get rescued late in some seasons after those who must secure large quantities of tea, accepted reduced quality weeks earlier. Yet I still needed to accept less variety.
That why I remind myself & others to keep enough tea in the cupboard to get through the possibility of a season of bad tea (in categories).
I think Bok hints at being prepared & gaoshan asks a good ?, is there ever a perfect season? I think somewhere seasons are awful & somewhere they are good but perhaps the trend is to lower quality due to many pressures, not just weather.
Good tea from last Winter is still around. No worries.
Fortunately, I have enough spring 2022 oolong to finish up that I can (impatiently) wait until the quality leaves appear later this spring. However, as you said, it's nice to have variety, both within a particular vendor's offerings and across vendors. So-called bad years are not the time to explore new oolong suppliers, though they might tell me a lot about whether their sourcing can withstand a drop in quality. However, TeaForum has eliminated the need to gamble with my tea budget in this way.Ethan Kurland wrote: ↑Thu Apr 13, 2023 12:59 pmIt is not uncommon for better-than-average tea to be part of worse-than-average seasons' yields. I've been smart and/or lucky waiting for leaves to be harvested on some patch of land to somehow get rescued late in some seasons after those who must secure large quantities of tea, accepted reduced quality weeks earlier. Yet I still needed to accept less variety.
That why I remind myself & others to keep enough tea in the cupboard to get through the possibility of a season of bad tea (in categories).
I think Bok hints at being prepared & gaoshan asks a good ?, is there ever a perfect season? I think somewhere seasons are awful & somewhere they are good but perhaps the trend is to lower quality due to many pressures, not just weather.
Good tea from last Winter is still around. No worries.
Seems spring Gaoshan harvest is down to 30% less of the usual amount... very little yield and small leaves. Some very good tea, but it's either already sold, on hold or not yet made public until the old customers have made their choices. Some is still being harvested though, but not sure how that will turn out.