Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/491377
STiR tea & coffee industry international 63 Raw ('sheng') pu-erh cakes (375g) from the 23 tea mountains of Yunnan province. Hybrid business model – wholesale packages inside a retail shop, which is the norm in Cha Yuan, one of the most popular tea malls in Mǎliándào "The Chinese tea industry has its roots in traditional agriculture," he explains. "Tea plants are grown in almost every county in Southern China, and in the past Chinese people mostly drank locally-produced teas. Although trading tea within the country dates back more than a thousand years, it is only since market reforms 30 years ago that China has seen the boom of mass production and trading of tea," he said. "In Beijing for example, local residents once drank only jasmine tea. In the past two decades, successful marketing and branding by large companies has changed the market, and nowadays Tieguanyin Oolong and Pu-erh are the most popular teas," said Cui.