Here is Part II of my interview with Jing Tea’s founder, Ed Eisler, in which we discuss fair trade and organic tea.
Miss Part I? Click here to read it!
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Lainie:
Now you were involved in getting one of your producers in China fair trade certified?
Ed:
Yes, I am a practical person. I really believe in fair trade. I also believe in charity.
But I think that for people to really benefit long term from one another, responsible business needs to be worked into business in general. It’s important that fair trade becomes mainstream.
Lainie:
I agree that in the long term there has to be standardized practices that ensure fairness for everyone involved in the transaction.
Ed:
Business is a bit like evolution: What works will survive and adapt,what doesnt won’t. Usually, if business is unfairly stacked to benefit one side more, it can’t continue indefinitely.
Lainie:
“Organic” is another label that is getting thrown around a lot in the tea community.
Lainie:
Some have complained that many organic teas just aren’t up to snuff.
Ed:
Yes, this is a very very important question. For me, taste is everything. I buy teas because of the way they taste. If they happen to be organic, then its a bonus.
Lainie:
I just don’t see the point in drinking something that isn’t appetizing.
Ed:
I know you know Dragon Well and I am sure you have heard of the west lake – the famous Dragon Well terroir?
Lainie:
I have heard of it, and in fact, a friend of mine who owns a tea room grew up there. I have found Dragon Well tea to be temperamental, personally.
Ed:
So this area is probably the most famous tea growing region in China. If you mention Xi Hu Long Jing (West Lake Dragon Well) to almost anyone in China, they have heard of it: It’s a bit like saying “Champagne”.
But there is a problem.
Lainie:
What is the problem?
Ed:
The tea here has been massively over-farmed. Far too much production and use of fertilisers.
Lainie:
And what is the consequence of that?
Ed:
The quality of the tea material (raw tea leaf) is not what it once was: The flavour is thin. There is some great processing and experts in this area and the smaller sub area, but also like Anxi, which is perhaps number 2 area in China with its famous Tieguanyin, the tea begins to lose its essence.
Lainie:
What can be done to reverse that?
Ed:
I am not sure what can be done. . .reduce the amount of production, let the land recover.
Ed:
Could move to organic over a long period of time, but due to demand and the prices which farmers can get, as well as the cost of the land, i think its unlikely.
Lainie:
So even with good people working in subareas, there is little that can be done without cutting back and, as you say, letting the land recover?
Ed:
I think it would be hard not to produce
Lainie:
Well, not producing could be economically devastating, I would think. But as you note, this is something of a Catch-22.
Ed:
Because I was disappointed with the tea here and also because its hard to find tea in West Lake which meets EU standards on pesticide residues I look elsewhere.
Lainie:
Because you are in the UK, the tea you import must be to EU standards?
Ed:
Yes, it must comply with EU maximum residue limits, we test every batch.
Ed:
But in the end I found some great places nearby [Dragon Well].
Lainie:
Will you be making their tea available through Jing?
Ed:
Yes, it is available now
Ed:
2 grades, Organic Dragon Well and Organic Dragon Well Supreme.
Ed:
Where I buy from is actually organic and has been for 10 years or more.
Ed:
The floral and fauna is amazing.
Lainie:
You can really taste it in the tea?
Ed:
Most importantly the tea buds are really fat and the tea is wonderfully full and thick in flavour and texture
Ed:
Something very hard to find in Westlake now. So although i am an organic skeptic, the tea itself made me see that if land has been organic for a long time it can have a really positive impact.
However, if a lot of money goes into fast organic conversion, rather than into all aspects of the tea production including quality of picking, processing and storage, it can have a compromised result.
Lainie:
The compromised result being that the quality of the tea isn’t as good?
Ed:
That’s sadly what often happens. People think that organic label will mean tea sells better, and therefore they do everything they can to get such a label without considering tea taste as the most important thing
Lainie:
Then the problem is that people drink it, don’t like it, and don’t become repeat customers?
Ed:
Indeed.
Lainie:
That is a problem.
Ed:
Or they think that the tea they are drinking is as good as it gets, which is also very sad.
Lainie:
I just reviewed an organic tea on my blog that was simply awful. As another tea friend said “And some folks will buy it and get turned off to tea in general”.
Lainie:
The company that produced this organic tea is a good company, but they seemed to not understand how this tea should taste.
Ed:
Oh dear. it shows that you have to taste every tea and can’t ever go on a label like West Lake, organic etc, on its own.
Part III of this interview, in which we talk about Ed’s favorite teas, is up next!
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