recent trip to Fangcun Tea Market, Guangzhou

[danielle h]

I went to Fangcun Tea market, the biggest tea market in China a few
weeks ago. I had a great time and found interesting and amazing teas.
I finally was able to put some of the teas up for sale on ebay (seller
harmonicminor) I also wrote a bit about the trip here. If you want
the complete article, plus pictures, please email me at
daniell...@gmail.com.

The tea market there is called Fangcun, Fragrant Village, and market
is a misnomer- it is more like a hodgepodge of markets. The building
above {not shown here} houses perhaps a hundred small shops, each
focusing on a narrow slice of the Chinese domestic tea industry: some
shops sell Yixing teapots, some only Tieguanyin oolong, some only
Dancong Oolong, some only bags for packaging teas, some only tea trays
and other wood accessories, etc. Besides the building above, there are
about ten other buildings all housing businesses related to tea. In
total, there are over 700 businesses with shops in Fangcun’s various
tea markets.
Fangcun started as a jasmine tea trading center. It grew throughout
the 80’s and 90’s, expanding into other tea markets. It is now
dominated by Pu’er tea. This represents a break from other products
where people sell what their family has sold in the past. If your
parents grow chilies, guess what? You will be a chili farmer! If your
family lives in Anxi, Fujian you consider yourself lucky because you
have some relatives who grow tea, which, inevitably is Anxi
Tieguanyin, and will fetch a much higher price at the market than
Zunyi Maofeng green tea, because the Zunyi Maofeng is not famous. But
many of the vendors from Fujian or Guangdong also sell Pu’er, which is
from Yunnan. Why? Because in the past five years, as some Chinese have
made small fortunes and needed ways to protect and build their wealth,
they turned to Pu’er as an investment vehicle. (It used to be very
cheap and it only gets more valuable with time, so it’s a no brainer,
right?) So Pu’er prices increased dramatically and then the bubble
burst last year- it seems the investors found better returns
elsewhere. If you are a Pu’er lover, Fangcun has a lot to offer,
including Pu’er reminiscent of Bai Hao Oolong, or Oriental Beauty, and
Pu’er buds, which I enjoyed drinking.
Besides Pu’er tea, you can find Oolong tea from Fujian (Tieguanyin and
Yancha, esp. Da Hong Pao) and Guangdong (the incredibly fragrant
Fenghuang Dancong). I even tried a white tea from Tibet (very wheaty)
and an oolong that needs to be kept in the freezer (great fragrance,
but short shelf life).