陈年铁观音Aged Tieguanyin

In the past two years, the old Tieguanyin with "Chen" as the most valuable has been more and more respected. According to information from the Anxi County Government, the Chenxiang Tieguanyin standard is expected to become the third Tieguanyin "national standard" after Qingxiang and Luxiang in 2015.

It is understood that in March this year, the enterprise standard of Chenxiang-type Tieguanyin formulated by Anxi Tieguanyin Group for 6 years was officially filed with the Fujian Provincial Department of Health, becoming the first definition, sensory index, physical and chemical index, and hygiene index for aged Tieguanyin. Documents that standardize regulations in various aspects.

Xiamen Tea Import & Export Co., Ltd. also filed an enterprise standard for Chenxiang Oolong tea (including three tea categories: Chenxiang Tieguanyin, Chenxiang Yancha, and Chenxiang Oolong) with the Provincial Health Department. The reporter saw in this enterprise standard that Chenxiang Tieguanyin is divided into "special grade, first grade, second grade and third grade" according to the quality; , no mildew, no peculiar smell, no pollution; the product is clean and must not contain non-tea inclusions” and so on.

Recently, the "Chenxiang-type Tieguanyin National Standard Technical Review Conference" sponsored by the Anxi County People's Government was held at the Anxi County Quality Supervision Bureau. The formulation of "Chenxiang Tieguanyin Standard" has been highly valued by the National Standards Committee, the National Tea Standards Committee, the National Tea Inspection Center (Hangzhou), Anxi Tea Institute, and Anxi County Party Committee and County Government. According to the national standard-setting procedure, the national standard for Chen Xiang-type Tieguanyin is expected to be approved and issued by the state in 2015.

It is reported that at present, the national standard implemented by Anxi Tieguanyin is "GB19598-2004". According to this standard, Anxi Tieguanyin is divided into two categories, one is the strong fragrance type Tieguanyin, the other is the fragrance type Tieguanyin. After the announcement of the new national standard, Chenxiang type Tieguanyin is expected to become the third type of Tieguanyin with "national standard".

"Old iron": drinkable and collectible, but not blindly seeking "oldness"

Old Tieguanyin is what the folks call "Old Tie". Although it has only emerged in the tea market in the past few years, in fact, Anxi folks have had the habit of storing tea since ancient times.

Wu Qingbai, a tea farmer in Anxi's tea-producing area, said that tea farmers have been making tea for generations, and their ancestors would keep some of them as "old irons" when they made tea every year. However, since they are all used for home drinking or medicinal use, the storage amount is small, and it is even more difficult to find good old Tieguanyin.

The reporter visited many tea shops and found that the traditional tea shops still mainly sell the season's fresh-scented and strong-scented Tieguanyin, and only a few of them sell aged Tieguanyin. However, some big brand tea companies, such as Xiamen Tea Import and Export Co., Ltd., Anxi Tieguanyin Group, Bama, Richun, Huaxiangyuan, etc., have marketed and packaged the old Anxi Tieguanyin and become corporate signs. Among them, Xiamen Tea Company launched the "Sea Wall Premium" this year, and it took only three years to prepare the raw materials.

"There are basically not many sources of goods in the market, and there are few tea customers buying them. The consumers are mainly old tea customers or high-end consumers." Wu Qingbai said that a good "old iron" has a smooth taste and a faint grassy flavor. , is a good detoxification drink. "It needs to be reminded that aged Tieguanyin tea is cooler in nature. Although it has certain health benefits, people with bad stomach should drink less as much as possible."

In fact, in the eyes of some old tea customers, aged Tieguanyin not only has its unique mellow taste, reducing fire, and helping digestion, but more importantly, it has investment value. Mr. Chen, an old tea customer, said that he collected a 2011 commemorative version of the old cong narcissus from Haidi, and the unit price has risen from 108 yuan to 368 yuan.

Chen Zhixiong, deputy general manager of Xiamen Tea Import and Export Co., Ltd., said that the longer the aged Tieguanyin is stored, the stronger the Chen Yun and Chen Xiang. However, whether it is a good tea still needs to be comprehensively judged according to the quality, age, storage condition, and post-fermentation degree of the tea leaves.

Chen Zhixiong introduced that the longer the age of aged Tieguanyin, the less resources there are. The oldest in Xiamen Tea Company is the old iron from the 1960s, but the teas before the 1980s are not available for sale. "From the perspective of cost management, the price of 'old iron' raw materials plus inventory cost, capital cost and processing cost should be higher. However, some merchants take out tea that has been stored for three or five years, which is many times higher than that of new tea. There are many ingredients in tea hype.”