We often hear: "If it is neither bitter nor astringent, it is not tea." Is that right?
I believe it is wrong.
Is bitter the mark of good tea?
I entered the tea industry in 2008. Back then I studied humbly, and most people told me the key qualities of good tea - including "power" (baqi), a major indicator. Powerful teas are usually bitter, such as Laobanzhang and Laomane.
In her book on the first impression of tea flavor, Li Shuyun discusses bitterness specifically (writing from memory since I do not have the book at hand): she believes good tea is bitter, because the heart favors bitter. I also remember a magazine feature about her tea, made from Bulangshan material, which indirectly confirms she truly believes good tea should be bitter.
I disagree!
Many high-end teas are not bitter
Think of the best Yiwu teas - Mobaotang, Wangong, Chawangdi: are they bitter? No. Across the six ancient mountains, the flavors are not bitter.
The best Laobanzhang is not bitter either - it is sweet, full and full of charm.
Laomane is famous for bitterness, but in my view its best tea is the sweet Laomane; most Laomane I have made was sweet tea.
The Bingdao region is even less bitter.
Bitterness was a stage in pu-erh's flavor pursuit, not true high-end taste
Regular readers know the concept I often raise: flavor economics.
Most of us come from the countryside and went through years of heavy physical labor; heavy bodies prefer spicy, salty and oily food, and such bodies like heavy-tasting tea. In Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, because the economy developed earlier, heavy tastes upgraded sooner - to lighter, cleaner flavors - and these regions genuinely dislike bitter tea.
The thirty years of pu-erh's boom coincide with China's rapid economic growth; during this period most regions completed their flavor upgrade. Just compare your own palate with the past: I used to eat very salty and spicy food; now my spice tolerance is lower and I cannot take saltiness at all.
As palates upgrade, bitter tea stops pleasing people. That is the root reason bitter tea is hard to sell today, and why Bulangshan prices keep hitting new lows.
Astringency is hard to avoid
From what I observe, teas from Yiwu state forests all carry a light "sour-astringent" feel - a faint sourness with astringency.
Many teas I fully process with thorough kill-green have very good material and still carry a light astringency.
Many high-end teas on the market - black, white, even green - have light astringency too.
But this astringency is not unpleasant; it resolves quickly.
Astringency is indeed one of the dimensions of tea flavor.
Conclusion
In my article "What Is High-End Tea?", I argue that high-end tea should have balanced flavor - and therefore cannot be bitter.
Look at all premium ingredients - deep-sea seafood, mountain delicacies and wild fungi, wagyu, river fish: they are all clean and sweet. Things with strong bias, like bitter tea, can hardly be truly high-end.
"If it is neither bitter nor astringent, it is not tea" - is wrong.
Reflection: why did this saying spread?
What everyone says is not necessarily right.
Tea sellers like saying it because it sells tea.
Drinkers repeat it because they have been conditioned.
Old tea hands believe it out of habit for heavy flavors.
But the body does not lie: many old tea hands can no longer drink strong tea, or have stopped drinking new tea.
I used to love traveling around and drinking tea everywhere, but now I almost dare not drink tea outside - tea that does not agree with me is the root reason.
The bitterness of tea really does harm people!
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