同一款茶叶这里卖一百元另一个人卖一万元，看似是后者厉害了，其实是整个行业的悲哀，多少人因此而被劝退，不敢买茶。

Have you been told that tea should be graded based on picking standard? This sounds simple and reasonable, but it doesn’t always help you make a purchasing decision. Just because the tea contains a lot of buds does not automatically mean it tastes great.

In today’s world, this simple standard is not enough. We have to reexamine how to determine the quality of the tea and how to communicate this to each other.

Legacy should back off

You’ve probably heard of FTPFOP or SFTGFOP to describe the quality of a tea. This type of tea grading system began in India and is widely used in the world of black tea trading, especially in the West. China has a different grading system. All teas are classified into grades like “Super Grade”, “Grade One”, “Grade Two”, etc. In the real world, this system means nothing. The producer can arbitrarily decide the grade of the tea, so the consumer cannot have full confidence purchasing under this system.

Impression is important

Regardless of picking standard, what matters more is whether you actually like the tea (or not). I recommend a New Generation Tea Grading System (NGTGS) that consists of three parts:

  1. Aroma
  2. Taste
  3. Distinction

“Distinction” is a broad measure to assess if the tea stands out from the common standard. It can refer to a unique quality such a special shape or particular excellence in regards to its peers.

Like it or not means a lot.

Each part has 10 points. For example, if you see a number 739, you will immediately understand aroma got 7 points, taste got 3 points, and surprise got 9 points. This communicates that the person who assessed the tea determined is has a good aroma, but did not enjoy the taste, and thought it was unique compared to other teas. It’s important to remember these scores are personal assessments and it’s possible that two different people can arrive at two different scores for the same tea.

流水不腐，户枢不蠹。— 《吕氏春秋》

很多人都感受到了年轻人一茬一茬地扑面而来，社会因此有生气，国家才胆敢说有未来。茶叶做为中国的千年传承，也需与时俱进，拥抱年轻人，才能推陈出新，永葆青春。

茶买了才是硬道理

说什么都是多余，如果不消费的话。第一步就是要让人甘心情愿花银子买茶，东西好坏在其次，知不知道它的好坏才是最重要的。

常听人说“茶叶没有标准”，听起来仿佛尽是暴利、坑，让人一想就害怕。年轻人喜欢肯德基是有深层逻辑的，因为炸鸡大叔的产品公开、公平，看得见，不用怕去哪个机场车站被宰。茶叶不能再云里来雾里去了，需要有一个简单易懂的评价工具。

老祖宗的东西该扔就得扔

印度、斯里兰卡或者整个西方世界，说到茶你不能不遇到TPO或者SFGTP等专业术语，这家伙就是根据茶叶的嫩度来划分好坏，但印度的茶芽就比武夷山的大叶子好喝吗？反正武夷山的牛肉是比它贵了不知几千几百倍。

回到中国，咱们茶叶是有标准的，比如GB/T 22291-2017就是国家级白茶标准，里面分特级、一级、二级等，各个级别需要符合哪些条件也相当具体，问题是，你买茶时知道一级是什么意思吗？更有甚者，把所有茶都标成特级。说到这，这几级几级还有意思吗。

喜欢就是生产力

对于年轻人或者任何人来说，第一印象非常重要，惊喜、没感觉、讨厌，这些都应该考虑在内。对于新世代茶叶评分系统来说，它们是非常重要的组成部分，也是这个新的茶叶评价标准的特色，这个系统有三部分组成：

  1. 香气
  2. 口感
  3. 印象

每部分都有10分，比如看到一个评分结果是589，马上就能知道这个茶香气是5分，算一般。口感是8分，相当高了，入口应该非常舒服。最重要的是第三个印象分是9分，天呐，它肯定有什么特别之处。像我做的虫翻天，印象分就很高。

看到这样的评分，要不要买，心里就有底了。

Acknowledgment

Thanks Brook, you are the first one complains the mess of tea world. And thank you Seasee Youl for the fun talk with you which help me understand more of the real world. Lastly special thanks goes to my friend Michael and Sarah, without you the reading would not be so smooth and sweet, I will add more details of the system.