Tea consumption in China is far more than simply having fun with a comforting beverage. Now we have a phrase for it: chá yì, which implies “the artwork of consuming tea.” It displays how a lot it means to us: it’s a custom, a ceremony, and a ritual. My goal is to copy that cherish for tea in my enterprise.
My identify is Jialing Ding, and I’m the final supervisor of Kangyuan Chinese language Natural Medication Planting Cooperative, situated in southeast China, in Nanping, Fujian.
I’m a third-generation tea farmer; my household has been planting tea leaves for greater than a century. If you inherit your ancestors’ career as I did, you need to ensure you not solely develop the enterprise however you proceed to lift its high quality requirements whereas honoring its legacy.
The Artwork of Rising and Cultivating Tea
I largely develop black tea and inexperienced tea leaves, and although there are various tea farms in China, I’m assured to say that my tea leaves are particular.
Three issues set them aside:
- Our geographic location
- The surroundings
- The soil
My plantation is situated in a mountain vary, utterly surrounded by forests, and that makes the soil extraordinarily fertile. Subsequently, we’re capable of produce leaves that style higher and are excessive in polyphenols, a micronutrient treasured for its antioxidant properties.
There may be one other part essential to the standard of the tea we harvest right here: the human care we put into each leaf. Many make use of machine selecting, however right here all of our leaves are handpicked. This tea plantation gives work to the farmers and laborers within the surrounding space.
When harvest season rolls round in Could or June, we’ll make use of round 1,200 folks; when it’s low season, they arrive to assist with different duties. We’re proud to supply employment alternatives for the neighborhood.
How We Rigorously Choose Our Tea Leaves
The selecting method employed by our employees – which its foremost attribute is that it doesn’t damage the leaves – is handed on orally from one era to the subsequent. They study it by means of phrase of mouth handed down from their ancestors. We put our coronary heart and souls into the tea: each batch of tea leaves we harvest comes from onerous work and keenness, and the wonderful high quality is our reward.
However love doesn’t imply negligence. Our complete manufacturing course of follows a strict process, and that’s additionally is without doubt one of the contributing elements to our output. First, the leaves undergo withering, then rolling, then fermentation, then drying, then sorting, and you then get the top product. Our tea leaves are bought everywhere in the nation, and our partnership with Herbalife Diet has allowed our tea to go international.
Partnering with Herbalife Diet
Herbalife Diet has very excessive requirements: they work solely with high-quality and high-end merchandise, which is why I’m very honored to have been chosen by them as a provider of tea leaves. Due to this partnership, I’m producing tea that’s loved by thousands and thousands all over the world.
For me, it’s very shifting to assume how many individuals are at present having fun with a dialog or a soothing second round a cup of tea that began as a seed in my plantation.