August 7th
marked the beginning of the autumn season in 2024.
The term “the first Cup of milk Tea in autumn” predictably topped the trending topics.
Young people's social media feeds were inundated with various tea beverages.
Gifting milk tea has become a new way of social interaction among young people.
Many tea beverage brands launched limited-time promotions.
Several milk tea shops experienced a surge in orders.
According to data from Meituan Group Buying,
milk tea consumption reached an instant peak at 2:00 PM nationwide on the first day of autumn.
The volume of group buying orders for milk tea increased by 156% compared to the same period last year.
The first day of autumn was jokingly referred to as the “Milk Tea Double Eleven.”
If your “first cup of milk tea in autumn”
was a floral or green tea-based beverage,
then you likely enjoyed tea leaves sourced from Rongxian.
In recent years, as the Chinese new-style tea beverage market continues to boom,
leading national tea beverage companies have come to Rongxian seeking cooperation.
This year in particular,
flowers like gardenias and jasmine have become new favorites in the tea beverage industry.
As the “Floral Tea Capital of China,”
many companies have placed orders for floral tea ingredients in Rongxian.
Rongxian has entered the “fragrant industry” sector.
Leading tea beverage companies choose Rongxian as their Raw material base for two key reasons:
quality and quantity.
Huang Jingbo, General Manager of Chunan Tea Industry Co., Ltd., stated that these are the two biggest advantages of the Rongxian tea industry.
What these leading companies value most is Rongxian's reputation as a “National Green Food Standardized Raw Material Base.”
In Shuanggu Town, a major tea-producing area in Rongxian,
Vice Mayor Huang Fuyong explained that the government has implemented strict control over tea quality and safety from the source.
Prohibited and restricted pesticides are not allowed in agricultural supply stores.
Government staff conduct regular inspections of pesticide sales.
Improving the ecological environment of tea gardens through intercropping with oil tea and other measures,
as well as promoting the use of organic fertilizers,
ensures the quality and safety of the tea.
Currently, the mechanized harvesting rate in Rongxian reaches 88.16%, ranking among the top in the country.
Mechanized harvesting represents a new quality of productivity for the Rongxian tea industry.
While manual picking can yield only about ten pounds in an hour,
mechanized harvesting can collect over one hundred pounds of fresh leaves per hour,
which is more than ten times the efficiency of manual picking.
This significantly increases farmers' labor productivity.
In 2021,
Chunan Tea Industry carried out intelligent renovations at its old factory in Shuanggu Town,
building a domestically leading and provincially pioneering
automated and hygienic primary processing line for tea,
with a daily production capacity of 200,000 pounds.
This year,
Chunan Tea Industry's new factory in the Economic Development Zone has been completed.
The new facility is undergoing final equipment installation and testing,
using customized digital equipment
that offers advantages such as automation, standardized processes, and stable quality.
After the new factory starts production, it will be able to produce up to 60 tons per day,
not only meeting the demand for local raw materials in Rongxian
but also potentially attracting high-quality raw materials from surrounding areas and even across the country,
solving the problem of large demand from leading tea beverage companies.
In recent years,
Rongxian has focused on the new tea beverage market, actively integrating into the industry chain,
strengthening tea supply,
improving picking efficiency,
enhancing processing capabilities,
and expanding product markets,
implementing multiple measures to promote the healthy development of the new-style tea beverage industry.
Aiming to achieve a goal of a 5 billion yuan output value for floral-scented tea raw materials within five years,
Rongxian aims to establish itself as a production base for floral-scented tea raw materials in China.
Photos and Text: Cha Dao Jun