Go into Chashan and trace back to the source of ＂good＂ tea that people can afford.
Wang Si, a tea man in Shangqiu, has been deeply involved in the tea industry for more than 20 years, and has a strong interest and unique sensitivity in tea. In order to achieve the ultimate in tea, he went to Chashan to trace his roots, and devoted himself to building a benchmark for tea enterprises in China, leading the benign development of tea industry in China, vowing to be a "good" tea that everyone can afford and drink.
Tracing back to the source and looking for good tea
On the afternoon of June 18th, crossing the bustling Zhongshan Street in the ancient city, the Yun Qi tea shop that entered Meiren Hutong in the ancient city seemed to have entered a paradise. The small courtyard was quiet and unique, with great charm. Being in it seemed to see the true meaning of life, and people could not help but sigh that "life could have been so pleasant".
Wang Si, who is full of artistic breath, wears flip-flops, is casual and has a free and easy personality, which makes her look carefree. After a few words of small talk, he got into the theme and had a unique opinion on tea. When he mentioned tea, he suddenly opened his mouth and told the story of his indissoluble bond with tea …
Speaking of his connection with tea? Wang Si said that more than 20 years ago, he worked in a cotton and linen company in Shangqiu, mainly in charge of business, and traveled to Yixing, Chaozhou and other places all the year round. At that time, Yixing’s handmade purple sand pottery skills, especially exquisite craftsmanship, made him interested in purple sand. Slowly, he came into contact with Taiwan Province tea merchants. At that time, the tea culture atmosphere in Taiwan Province was very good. They enjoyed the comfort of tea tasting and pushed the aesthetics of tea to the extreme. Their tea culture seemed to be integrated into daily life.
Drinking tea is virtually a promotion of tea culture. At first, the old man in his hometown was puzzled when he saw him drinking tea with a small pot and a small cup upside down, and even laughed at him for being stupid. Some people said that it was not convenient to drink tea with a big teapot. At that time, in order to popularize tea culture, Wang Si specially opened a tea shop in Shangqiu, hoping to promote tea culture in his hometown.
He thinks that it is only a matter of time before good things will be promoted and passed down. He started to contact tea in 1997. After much contact, he found that tea has different flavors, different hills, different tree species and different tastes. The tea in the same stockade is picked in different ways, and the time and temperature of frying and drying are different, so the tea produced will taste completely different. Tea from the same mountain and different tea farmers will produce different flavors.
Wang Si is a real person. In order to solve this puzzle, in 2012, he began to enter Chashan to trace the source, plant tea in Baoshan, and get in touch with different tea merchants, tea trees, tea varieties and production techniques. At that time, many people went to Chashan to collect some good finished products from tea farmers, and Wang Si had to go to the tea planting area to see the ecological environment around the tea trees.
"He pays more attention to the original things of tea itself. Good tea and good ecology complement each other, which is also the final taste charm of tea." His wife, Han Miao, said that the husband’s most common saying is that making tea is the same as being a man, and "quality" should be emphasized. Tea farmers are not allowed to prune every tea mountain, preferring to reduce the output and raise the quality of this tea. At the same time, he strictly controls every process and creates every product with ingenuity, which has become the most trusted friend of consumers, so the repurchase rate of tea customers he made is very high.
With the innate sensitivity to tea, tea will be the ultimate
During the interview, his words revealed his love for tea. Perhaps it is this love and awe that drives him to make a cup of tea to the extreme.
"Good tea definitely comes from deep mountains." Wang Si said that the bigger and more primitive the forest is, the better the tea will be. High-quality tea resources need to be explored constantly, instead of having a tea garden, which can be cultivated in the later stage. The vegetation in the forest is complementary, and only wild tea in the mountains will be more natural and pure.
To this end, he often went into the mountains to look for wild tea. Because of the harsh environment in the mountains and sparsely populated, few people came in and out, and insects, snakes and beasts appeared from time to time. For the sake of safety, Wang Si would bring several sensitive dogs with him every time he entered the mountains. Because mosquitoes in the deep mountains bite wild animals, every time he enters the mountain, he will be bitten black and purple by mosquitoes all over his body.
For Wang Si, tea seems to have been integrated into his life for a long time. Even if he goes out to play, he will always pay attention to the local altitude and climate and judge whether there is wild tea. "In order to explore ancient tea trees, we never go out on the highway. He is very sensitive to tea, and his judgment is basically correct. Sometimes we walk and suddenly stop. He said that according to the surrounding environment such as climate and vegetation, there should be excellent wild tea forests, so we began to look for them little by little. After several rounds of searching, there was a good wild tea forest." Han Miao said that he also has a sensitive and subtle insight into the prepared tea. Even if he is not on the scene during the tea making process, such as whether the tanning time is short or whether the kneading time is excessive, he can also taste the lack of craftsmanship when drinking tea.
"Once, I thought it would take me five or ten years to make tea. Now, I think it will take me all my life to make tea. " Wang Si said that at first, he only regarded tea as a product. Now, tea has been integrated into his life and life, which can not only be quiet and calm, but also help to cultivate sentiment and get rid of distractions. You can also meet yourself, precipitate your thoughts and cultivate your self-cultivation while making tea, enjoying tea and tasting tea.
Create a benign market and be a "good" tea that people can afford.
Tea with rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, wine and tea, whether plain or elegant, is always closely related to daily life. Therefore, Wang Si thinks that tea should be closer to life. In the early days, tea was fired to a high level. Some commercial teas and gift teas messed up the market, and even people once thought that beautifully packaged tea was good tea.
"I firmly believe that in the end, everyone’s recognition of tea is not the outer packaging, nor the price, but the taste of tea itself." Wang Si said that the price of tea is too high, and a large part of it will "shut the door" to the public. What we need to do now is to create a good tea market environment. On the basis of a benign market, we can let everyone drink good tea and enjoy a beautiful life.
In addition, he believes that fame is not everything, and good tea must come from a good tea maker. Everyone’s tongue tip cells are different, and the requirements for taste are different. Some tea lovers like the same good tea, while others don’t. "So, tea need not be too expensive, just suit yourself." Wang Si said that in order to let more people taste good tea and meet the needs of more consumers, he constantly invested time and energy to make a tea with guaranteed quality, close to the market and high cost performance.
At present, he plans his own tea shop. Anyone who passes by the tea shop can ask for a pot of tea. If you have money, you can give it. If you have no money, you can leave directly … "Think about how the ancients drank tea, and then think about the tea culture of Chengdu people. I want to build such a tea shop more and more, so that life can slow down and everyone can really sit down and taste life and taste good."
"He is a person with special feelings and a clear sense of love and hatred. Just because he is such a kind of person, he can make one thing more pure. Just like after he entered the ancient city, he thought that the ancient city never lacked the inside information, but lacked the cultural elements. He wanted to drive everyone to do fairs and take this as his own responsibility to revitalize the ancient city and boost popularity." Cheng Anying, a friend for many years, commented that he is never blind, can hold on to himself, has a rare determination, and at the same time, is full of feelings and tries his best to give life a truly meaningful place.
Today’s Wang Si, slowly unifies life and tea, and will take the development of Shangqiu local culture as his own responsibility and serve the construction of local culture. (Contributed by Hou Bo, Propaganda Department of Shangqiu Municipal Committee, Chen Haifeng and Chen Mengmeng)
