It was early July 2018. I had just returned to Denmark from Sichuan, China, where I had the task of being a tea judge and keynote speaker at the Emeishan Tea Expo.
I barely had time to throw my clothes in the washing machine before I received a call from Bitten Høgh, a friend and owner of the tea company Danyun.
She had become busy with a project that we had worked on together in 2017. Now, we needed to evaluate tea, visit tea gardens, meet tea farmers, hold workshops, investigate pesticides, and much more. All of this was to be compiled into a report to be submitted in Denmark by July 26 at 12:00 PM.
I got busy and arrived in Kunming on Saturday, July 14, in the morning and went directly to the office where 21 teas, totaling 35 kilos, were waiting for me. Each tea had to be assessed for the quality of the dried leaves. The tea was weighed and brewed several times. The aroma, flavor, color, and finally, the quality of the wet leaves were thoroughly examined and noted. A report was prepared for each tea, tea garden, and tea farmer, whom I also needed to visit the following week.
After two days of intense tea tasting, we set off for Xishuangbanna, which is Puerh country. We met with farmers from eight different minorities: Bulang, Akha, Hani, Wa, Yi, Lahu, Dai, and Jino. Each ethnic minority had its own language and interpretation of agriculture. Some cultivated the land with respect for nature and their ancestors’ culture, while others nearly ravaged the earth by using chemicals at the urging of unscrupulous sellers who profit greatly from the farmers’ ignorance. I can say with hand on heart that this is China’s greatest threat.
Since the purpose of the project is to help tea farmers organize themselves into an organic and Fair Trade cooperative, I realized that we needed to teach them about sustainable agriculture as the very first step.
My biggest “aha” moment was the clear correlation between the results from the previous week’s tasting and the use of pesticides. Certain characteristics, such as specific flavor notes and a metallic mouthfeel, were dominant in the teas that contained pesticides; you could smell, taste, and see it in the color of the tea. I have often wondered if I could really taste pesticides in tea; now I know exactly how pesticides taste, smell, and affect the color of the brewed tea.
My task was to visit all the tea gardens from which we had received samples, along with 26-year-old Aiyun, who was born in Yunnan and served as both interpreter and assistant. When he and I visited the tea gardens, it was a matter of life and death. Although many new roads have been built in recent years, most roads leading to the small villages are still narrow, steep, and slippery mud paths that are only accessible by motorcycle or on foot. The slightly larger roads are also subject to flooding and landslides, and several times we had to get out of the car while the driver managed it alone. God knows what would have happened if the car slipped down the mountain. Those are thoughts you just shouldn’t have in your head. The roads are carved into the mountains without any form of safety at the edges. Driving up these mountains during the rainy season requires a skilled and patient driver.
With Life at Stake
Road Conditions in Menglun, Yunnan
But it is not enough to drive up to the villages; one must also climb the mountains to reach the tea gardens. On one occasion, I had to refuse to continue when it started pouring rain, and the path was no wider than 30 cm with a sheer drop on one side. If you took a wrong step, there was no help to be had—no phone connection and no ambulances. My poor assistant Aiyun was equipped with an iPad, a spade, and a bag for soil samples. He had to continue up the mountain to the garden, film it, and take samples of soil and tea leaves while I turned back and walked back to the village. This particular trip took six hours round trip, and Aiyun was allowed to do it twice.
Everything Was Tested for Chemicals
Organic Tea Garden Menglun, Yunnan
All the visited tea gardens were thoroughly examined for pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, beneficial and harmful plants, as well as influences from the surrounding environment. After more than a decade of visiting tea gardens, a quick glance at the flora and fauna reveals any use of pesticides. Once you know the signs, it’s easy to spot them. Therefore, it was necessary to take soil samples from several different locations in the garden. These were collected, documented, and submitted to the Pu’er Research Institute. The soil is tested for pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, nutrients, organic matter, pH value, and the ability to absorb nutrients. The final results will provide a basis for decisions to improve conditions for tea production that support EU regulations for sustainability and ecology. To think that one is part of influencing such a project and putting it into action is significant.
Everything Was Documented
Standard for Tea Picking
During our visit, we had to film and record all processing phases of the farmer. All processes and techniques from tea picking to the finished product had to be filmed, recorded, and documented, from how to pick a bud, precise withering techniques, to roasting in a wok, hand or machine rolling, and drying. Each individual process contributes to changing the chemical composition of the tea. It affects the flavor, appearance, and thus the quality. This has implications for how much the tea farmer can sell their tea for. 12 DKK per kilo or 12,000 DKK per kilo results in significantly different qualities of life.
Wok-Roasting Tea Leaves
Danyun
This is not the first time Bitten Høgh has undertaken such a project. We know her brand Danyun, which offers organic and Fair Trade tea. Now she has taken a step further by establishing a Chinese tea cooperative (COOP) based on Danish principles. This cooperative will produce and sell tea just like any other business. The difference is that a COOP is owned and managed by tea farmers and members—those who use it—rather than by shareholders. The profits are reinvested or distributed to its members. The COOP adheres to a set of seven cooperative principles that govern how the business operates and how decisions are made.
- The COOP is a voluntary organization open to all people who are able to use the services and accept the responsibilities of membership without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination.
- The COOP is a democratic organization controlled by its members and those who purchase goods or use the cooperative’s services—policies and decisions are made by active participants.
- Members contribute equally and control invested capital democratically. This benefits members in relation to how much they contribute to the business, rather than how much they have invested.
- The COOP is independent self-help organizations controlled by their members. If agreements are made with other organizations or capital from external sources is sought, it is done on terms that ensure members’ democratic control and maintain the cooperative’s self-governance.
- The COOP provides education and training for their members, elected representatives, leaders, and employees so they can contribute effectively to development. Members inform the public about the purposes and benefits.
- The COOP helps their members most effectively and strengthens solidarity by collaborating through local, national, and regional communities.
- The focus is on members’ needs as well as sustainable community development through policies and agreements accepted by the members.
Organic Fair Trade COOP
The purpose of Bitten’s organic Fair Trade COOP is to eliminate poverty in Menglun, Yunnan. To improve the quality of life for farmers and their families, the introduction of organic cultivation and Fair Trade principles will be the foundation of the project. Unfortunately, we often see that buyers continuously undermine the price of tea to the extent that it is sold for less than it can be produced for. This means that the farmer can never earn enough to support their family, and the debt grows.
The latest trend has been a migration from the countryside to the cities in search of jobs in factories. This is devastating for tea production and harmful to the farmers’ families, especially the children. They are left to be cared for by their grandparents. Grandparents who have never learned to speak Chinese, or read and write, are now responsible for raising the next generation.
Left-Behind Children
The one-child policy, which was a law for Han Chinese until 2016, has never been enforced for minority parents in Yunnan, so it is very common for there to be 2-3 children in each household. These children, who have now been labeled “left-behind children,” face heartbreaking problems in school; no one can help them with their homework, which makes them the losers in society. A growing problem of suicide attempts, alcohol, and drug abuse is the future for these young minorities. There are no parents on this planet who wish that for their children.
Minan’s Left-Behind Children Project
The COOP project aims to create resources to address this issue. An initiative has already been taken to establish a “left-behind” daycare for 6-9-year-old children in Menglun. A single volunteer has set up two classrooms across from the local school. After the summer break in 2018, children will be offered homework help after school and the opportunity to rest before being picked up by their grandparents. Many have several kilometers to walk back to their village.
Goals
This problem is not limited to China; the same experience was evident during my travels in Nepal and India earlier in the spring. When one is not willing to pay the farmer for their work in caring for tea bushes and producing a proper product that has both flavor and health benefits, but instead chooses to pressure the price, it forces the farmer into unethical practices. Many cheat with organic claims and feel compelled to use chemicals or mix in inferior products.
Fair Trade?
When you can buy a box of 20 organic Fair Trade tea bags for 10 DKK in a supermarket in Denmark, alarm bells should ring! Think of all the processes the tea must go through: organic farming with control from Eco-cert, Fair Trade with control from WFTO, hand-picking of tea, withering, oxidation, rolling, drying, export and import control, packaging in small bags, packaging design, transport, distribution, and 25% to the taxman. There are so many links that need to profit from the product. Before you put the tea in your shopping cart, ask yourself this question: How much money does the farmer get? If I can change just one person’s attitude towards buying good quality tea, I have made a difference in improving these people’s lives.
Organic and Fair Trade Moonlight White Tea from Yunnan, China