CNNP teas and State factory teas

[mbanu]

Black tea. No Keemun? Maybe I am misunderstanding what ChinaTea is in the present... This seems to be mostly Fujian brands, but also pu'er and liu bao, but no Guangdong teas. Also interesting that the Panyong Congou tin has a lower catalog number than the Lapsang Souchong, even though I am almost certain that the tin design is based off of the Lapsang one. I'm still trying to figure out the pattern, I guess.

[mbanu]

White teas. Two styles we've talked about already, and a glimpse of ChinaTea silver needle packaging. Also an example of the new cake format white tea (I'm still a little doubtful that this counts as white tea, really), and a Sea Dyke white tea.

[mbanu]

White teas. Two styles we've talked about already, and a glimpse of ChinaTea silver needle packaging.

This actually reminded me that I'd seen this in a larger version, so posting it here. Interesting to see "Flowery pekoe" on modern tea packaging, that is a very old-fashioned term for white tea. This also reminds me of a marketing puzzler I've never quite understood, putting a branded tin inside a box with a picture of the tin on it. Is it just so that they can show the tea in the glass next to it? Maybe box runs are cheaper than label runs, so they do the boxes for different countries but stick the same tin inside?

[mbanu]

The strange thing about their flavored tea section is that it does not seem to have rose congou or lychee congou. When the State factories de-nationalized, did Guangdong/Golden Sail cut all ties with ChinaTea? Also no loose tea, only teabags.

...and yet here is a loose-leaf Sprouting brand lychee congou.

Green tea section. Interestingly there is no Sprouting brand gunpowder -- was this discontinued before 2020, or is trying to reach the gunpowder market with Fujian tea a new thing?

...and yet here is a Butterfly brand gunpowder green tea.

It's like they are trying to make things intentionally difficult.

[mbanu]

0008, CTW-304, and CTW-305 look like they might be old-style liu bao tin designs, I'll have to see if I can find some older versions of these. Interesting that there is no branding listed other than ChinaTea, although it looks like on those baskets there might be a brand that is just not stated for some reason...

On closer examination, those might just be basket-knobs. In an earlier thread, Balthazar found a good article trying to decode the catalog codes used for these.

Also, a close-up of a new CTW-305 tin. The picture is the same on 0008 (which is also listed as CTW-303?), CTW-304, and CTW-305, just the color of the tin changes. What could be the difference, I wonder?

[mbanu]

the dodgy brand "Dragon's Tower" where I am not quite sure if it is a State tea or if gunpowder tea of all things has counterfeits now.

Is there such a thing as counterfeit gunpowder green tea? It really does seem hard to believe, given how much gunpowder the state factories seem to produce, but then there are these odd look-a-like brands... Maybe from a less popular State factory?

[mbanu]

I guess there must be. Here is an example of Cheval brand special gunpowder, which links to a site based in Hong Kong. Also, a billboard of it being advertised -- I don't think the State factories advertise that way in West Africa... Maybe I should start that West African ataya thread I was thinking about.

[mbanu]

Now this one is a puzzler, a postcard ad for Bi Luo Chun, but there does not seem to be either Zhongcha or any local brand marks (Sunflower, Temple of Heaven, etc.) Was there a transition period between the two, or was this tea treated specially?

A 1975 infomercial on Bi Luo Chun generally, from China Reconstructs, an English-language political magazine.

[LeoFox]

Interesting to see this from the later stage of the CR

[mbanu]

Interesting to see this from the later stage of the CR

The 1970s infomercials seemed a bit more like the thing being marketed was class struggle using tea as an example, while by 1980 the focus was on trying to promote the tea itself, I think. This is the impression I got comparing this one to the 1980 pu'er article, anyway.

[LeoFox]

This language in the 1975 ad is very typical of this period, praising the disastrous policies such as forcing students to join with the peasant farmers to work the land, massive expansion directed by politicians not agricultural experts, challenges that were being overcome (not) as well as learning from tachai, the fake model farm entirely supported by the state secretly at a loss used as a fake proof that Mao's policies actually worked. In any case, Deng xiaoping was coming back to power at this point, and Mao was dying.

[wave_code]

Also, a close-up of a new CTW-305 tin. The picture is the same on 0008 (which is also listed as CTW-303?), CTW-304, and CTW-305, just the color of the tin changes. What could be the difference, I wonder?

From what I can tell the Worker's Stadium liu bao box changes based on the year of production. The red box is a production from 2009 and packaged in 2016, the silver box is 2011/2018, 2012/2019 for the green box. So it seems its generally a 7 year recipe now with new colors for each release year - these are the only 3 I've seen, and I believe the original tin (70s? I think it was...) was red. They seem to be doing something similar with the T1101/T0101 - at least for 1101 there is the black box, red box, dark red, and gold that I've seen for different years. But, to complicate things I know there are at least two different productions of the black box 1101 since I have ones that have different production dates, different printing on the lid, and the inside paper bag is slightly different, but I don't know if thats the case for each year or what the case is there. I haven't done a super focused side by side but from a look comparison of the leaf grade, fermentation and taste of one from memory and the steeping performance they are matched pretty well. Deciphering liu bao productions like this is incredibly difficult/frustrating.

I don't know enough but the actual market/strategy here... but I'm guessing like factory Pu these are meant to be more stable 'recipes' produced year to year for people looking for a particular taste characteristic. But more importantly that it seems like a move more towards selling maybe in theory smaller/higher grade productions, or at least less tea for more $$, banking on some people's nostalgia or the old reputation of some of the original boxes like Worker's Stadium, Duoteli black box, classic red box, so on.

[mbanu]

What seems to be a vintage tin of Yingde black tea. Sprouting branding but from the Guangdong tea branch. As far as I am aware, this is the only actual category of tea created out of the laogai forced-labor tea farm system. Normally these laogai teas seem to just be made in whatever the local regional style of tea is... Yingde was meant sort of like Yunnan black tea to compete on the global market with British-style black teas. A lot of the loose Yingde black seems to have ended up in Poland, with the tea fannings meeting the original goal more effectively. I wish I knew more about this style of tea.

[mbanu]

Two postcard ads for Golden Sail Yingde, one with the logo and one without, although the text on the back was the same. I think this is the first time I've seen something like that -- maybe the logo was developed after the name?

[mbanu]

A fellow named Zeng Shirong wrote a memoir on his time at a laogai tea farm in Yingde, "In the Red Ocean I Remember". Apparently he spent 7 years there for communicating with the Kuomintang.

Also, a promotional photo of the Yingde Tea Plantation.

*Edit: It looks like in 1978 the Yingde Tea Plantation was renamed to 广东省英红华侨茶场, the Overseas Chinese Tea Farm. Apparently this had something to do with re-settling refugees from the Cambodian-Vietnamese war? I am not sure of the details or what that meant for the operation of the plantation.