The tea industry has many "masters". Yesterday a man could not tell raw from ripe pu-erh; today he may be a pu-erh master - I wrote about this in my column on tea people.
The industry also has a chain of contempt: drinkers of ancient pure-tree look down on plantation-tea drinkers, raw drinkers look down on ripe drinkers, aged-tea drinkers look down on raw-tea drinkers, and "master tea" drinkers look down on brand-tea drinkers.
Most masters are self-appointed.
The tea industry does have official channels for masters, but such people are usually weak in influence; those in the spotlight are mostly the self-appointed "masters".
For example, the aged-tea "masters" from Hong Kong and Taiwan: to sell their never-depleting stock of old tea, they invent stories, spend money or recruit disciples to spread praise through others' mouths, under a dizzying list of titles - "godfather of pu-erh", "tea king of Hong Kong", "dean of pu-erh" are among the most circulated. Some are cleverer: they sell quietly and only boast within their own circle - "founder of such-and-such technique", "the first person to brew tea in such-and-such way". There are many of these.
Mainland "masters" are a little better - they mostly style themselves as teachers. Nearly all of them invent one concept, then run the same old tea-industry spiel in circles - no innovation, plenty of self-appointment.
Some claim to have deciphered the code of tea leaves, some claim to have read the most books, some claim to be founders of a certain processing craft. Go through all their videos or articles and you will find recycled second-hand knowledge, merely reorganized. The "I have read the most books" claim is the funniest - can reading more beat AI? Without real mastery, it is just... whatever.
That self-proclaimed most-read man once attacked sun-dried black tea (shaihong) as failed craft and failed product. Later his videos disappeared - he deleted them himself. At the time several friends sent me his videos, and I had two comments:
- Whatever exists has its reason: the market has plenty of shaihong and lots of people love it - who is he to judge?
- I hold many aged shaihong teas - they were good as new teas and are even better now, living proof that shaihong improves with age - who is he again?
Sure enough, he shaved off his own pride.
Masters all need to sell tea.
When I sold tea successfully, "masters" often came to my door. They usually travel in groups: companions do the drum-beating while the master sits in authority; when the flatterer reaches a climax, the master nods slightly or adds "not quite", "not that exaggerated", "many years now" - the whole act says one thing: the master is formidable, and here is your chance to cooperate with him, with a bright future ahead. If you are sensible, you fork over a few hundred thousand as a token to buy a batch of his tea - even better. Yes, masters' tea is generally expensive. One master told me he held so many tons of Laobanzhang that any single piece sold for over a hundred thousand; he asked me to take two pieces for a "small" sum of a few hundred thousand - sell for profit, hoard for appreciation.
When I first entered pu-erh, a Taiwanese master often invited me to tea and taught me some tea knowledge. I called him teacher and asked his advice on problems; I also helped him sell a few tons of tea - teacher and student were both pleased. Later I pivoted to selling big-factory tea and stopped buying much from him. Once, when I asked his advice again, he said plainly: "You do not buy my tea - why would I tell you?"
When you learn tea from a master, he wants to empty your pockets.
Too many examples: you spend thousands to learn, buy a pile of tea, and once you truly understand tea a little while later, you discover that the tea you bought at a high price is ordinary - not as good as the master claimed, maybe worse than the market average. You collapse; his wallet is full.
Masters fear you really understanding tea
If you truly understand, to whom will he sell his low-quality, high-price tea?
A master builds a closed loop of rhetoric to stop you from learning from anyone else...
Masters never explain things to the end
Maybe the master is not being deliberately profound - perhaps he does not understand either. Another possibility: if he explains fully, you will understand.
Not enough substance? Add ritual.
Learning tea - four hours, three and a half spent "on enlightenment".
Take the Seven-Bowl Tea Gathering: after the whole ritual, you still do not know whether the tea is good, and your bladder is about to burst. Yet in some places such rituals are very popular.
Checklist of master traits - check how many your "master" has:
- Frequently deletes earlier words (posts/articles/videos);
- Has published a book;
- Runs paid training on a schedule;
- Has a crowd of followers promoting him;
- Hard to reach in person - assistants take your calls;
- Snippets of his videos circulate in an organized way;
- Public knowledge is always surface-level; to go deeper, pay first;
- Claims uniqueness, filling one or more gaps;
- Not enough knowledge, ritual fills the gap;
- Most important of all - in the end he sells tea.
Do not be superstitious about masters.
I once met a man in Kunming before Spring Festival who could not tell raw from ripe - a total tea beginner. The next spring he became a master of stir-frying tea, and a friend of mine even paid him handsomely to stir-fry tea.
Masters can be made overnight - can your wallet fill up that fast?
If it can, then never mind what I said.
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