On May 12, 2009, The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the Standardization Administration (SAC) jointly published a national standard for tea sensory evaluation, Methodology of Sensory Evaluation of Tea. 

The new standard took effect on September 1 of that year. It is the first regulation that provides a standardized tea quality assessment method throughout the country. Professor Gong Shuying from the Tea Department of Zhejiang University is the leading drafter behind this milestone work.  

Gong graduated from Zhejiang University in 1982, majoring in Tea Science, obtaining a Master’s degree in the same subject in 1987. She was appointed to the faculty of the Tea Science Department by her alma mater. Her areas of research are: tea sensory evaluation, quality control and manufacture. She is one of China’s grade 1 tea tasters and an honored member of the Ministry of Agriculture’s modern tea industry technology system think tank. 

 

 

 

“Sensory evaluation is a pivotal step in deciding tea quality and grade,” Gong told Tea & Coffee Asia last June. “However, before the new standard of 2009, there had been no national standard but several overlapping industrial and administrative ones, which lagged behind the development of the industry.” 

Back in the Planning Economy period, tea production and trading were managed by different administrative bureaus, each of which followed independent sensory evaluation standards. After decentralization and the opening-up of the industry, such segregated management was replaced by supply chain management, and the man-made barrier between manufacturers and traders were broken. The tea industry underwent fundamental changes led by the mushrooming of new enterprises and new products, the steady increment of domestic consumption, the profitability of gourmet tea and brand recognition and development. 

The old dual sensory evaluation standards could no longer satisfy the industry’s demand. Many subsequent provincial standards further complicated the situation, so to standardize quality uniformly nationwide, AQAIQ planned to launch a national standard in the early 2000s. A team of experts were called up for the task, and Gong was appointed as team leader. 

“The authority initially granted us two years,” Gong recalled. “However, the time was only sufficient to consolidate existing standards. Since the old scoring models are unfit for the kinetic development of the market, there was a need to create a new one. In the end, the whole project took us five years to complete, and most of the time was spent on developing the scoring model.”

To ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the new scoring model, the team collected a huge amount of representative samples and analyzed pools of first-hand data from repeated sensorial tests on them. 

“The old models had limitations with regards to quantifying sensory results,” Gong explained. “A particular sample tested by different panels of tasters can get quite different scores. Moreover, even the same panel of tasters can give different scores to a sample that they tasted at different times.” 

In brief, the old models can tell whether a tea is good or bad as compared with other samples, but cannot quantify the degree of goodness (or badness). The new model solves the problem, allows the tasting results to be reproducible and comparable. It consists of 12 benchmarking templates covering major types of Chinese tea, including gourmet green, general green, oolong, congou black, post-fermented Chinese black (loose leaf), compressed tea, white tea, yellow tea, jasmine tea, teabag, CTC black and tea powder. 

Each template specifies an integrated scoring method based on five weighing factors, which are five essential quality elements: (the look of) dry leaf, (the nose of) aroma, (the look of) liquid, (the palate of) taste and (the texture and look of) infused leaf. The new standard adjusted the weighing factors by addressing more importance to taste than to the look of dry leaf. The readjustment may influence the industry to reconsider the positioning of tea as a prime beverage rather than a niche-market luxury good, and to seek scales of economy and sustainable development.

“There is a trend in the gourmet tea market to produce ‘luxurious fine’ tea at the cost of prime grades,” Gong said. “The Gift Economy plays an invisible hand there, as quite a few customers who buy luxury tea are not the ones who drink it but send as a gift.” 

Overemphasis on pretty looking luxury tea is stagnating development of the industry, and the new standard intends to correct the biased mindset by adjusting relevant quality parameters. However, the change has to be gradual due to the momentum of consumer habits. 

“Take the gourmet green tea template for example: the look of dry tea used to account for 30% of the overall score. Initially, I intended to bring it down to 20%, but had to compromise on 25%.” Gong recalled.

China is the world’s number one tea producer with over 1 million tons harvested annually. It also boasts of the largest cultivation area, yet the average yield is quite low, at a mere 735 kg/ha in 2008. The preference for ‘luxuriously fine’ tea is partly responsible for the poor yields. Many smallholders in green tea regions stop producing summer and autumn tea and sacrifice prime grades output for ‘luxurious fine’ tea. Other factors contributing to the poor yield include: shortage of pluckers and increased labor costs while the small scale of most tea gardens render it uneconomic to introduce more efficient machine plucking and automatic manufacture.  

Gaoxin worked for a tea chain before entering into coffee arena. Her career track is a reflection of the development of coffee culture in China. Gao joined Shanghai Jazz as head of marketing and technical support shortly after bagging the WBC China championship in 2004. Shanghai Jazz was then a start up enterprise targeting the production of commercial semi-automatic coffee machines. The company implemented Italian technology in its products and was dependent on certain imported parts. 

It was common at that time for Chinese coffee machine producers to import parts to complete the manufacturing process. In 2006, Shanghai Jazz had a new plant at Xuzhou City in Jiangshu province that was capable of producing all the parts required for commercial coffee machine manufacture. 

“We were and are the only commercial coffee machine producer in China that can make all the parts needed for coffee machines, including copper boilers and some previously imported parts,” Gao told Tea & Coffee Asia. “The production upgrade gives us a competitive edge over our competitors.” 

Since 2006, the company’s production cost was reduced as all parts were now being produced locally. The logistic costs dropped accordingly as there are no more international freight charges to pay. The average carrying cost was reduced and production lead time was shortened.

Price, quality and timely service are prime considerations of most commercial coffee machine users in China. According to Gao, Shanghai Jazz semi-automatic coffee machines cost from RMB20,000 (USS3000) and up, which is much cheaper than comparable imported models. Its spare parts are compatible with 80% of existing brands used in China market.

“Our clients are mainly hotels, restaurants, and automobile 4S shops, who look for prompt technical service, regular maintenance and staff training.” Gao said. “Some of our spare parts users carry other brand of machines than ours, but due to the lengthy ordering time for certain imported parts, they switched to compatible parts manufactured by Shanghai Jazz.” Such users may become Shanghai Jazz machine users in future, particularly as Shanghai Jazz will start work developing fully automatic coffee machine at the end of this year.

To build up a good rapport and get first hand feedback from operators, the company also provides training on coffee knowledge to users.

As local producers catch up on service and quality, they attract more users. 

“Three years ago, local brand commercial coffee machine accounted for 20% share in volume, but this has now increased to 40%,” Gao told us. “Quality improvement in quality is the key force pushes up the sales, and a better understanding of local needs also contributes to the growth in market share.” 

Semi-automatic coffee machines are the leading type of commercial coffee makers used in China, and in this segment the market share of local brands is expected to continue growing and further squeeze the sales of imported brands. 

However, the commercial coffee machine business is still in its infancy in China. The market is narrow, mostly concentrated in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, which are the three most cosmopolitan big Chinese cities. The absolute sales volume remains small compared with the large population of the country. 

“General awareness of quality fresh brew has yet to be realized,” Gao pointed out. “Instant coffee is the first concept of ‘quality’ coffee embedded in the minds of Chinese, and it takes time to correct this concept. The hospitality industry is more ready to accept fresh brew, and claims that fresh brew and instant coffee have equal share.”

In view of this, Shanghai Jazz is planning to enter the roast and ground bean business, providing roasted beans and special blends to their users. 

“Quality beans would optimize the cup quality of the machine, and, as the equipment producer, we have more insight into which roasting and blending options would lead to the best brew.” Gao said.