What is Certified Origin?

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Have a real cup of tea, for the first time in your life!

Certified origin is equivalent of genuine. The concept of Certified Origin (or Certificate of Origin) comes from World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. It is to protect intellectual property of the products (such as agricultural products, wine, cheese, etc) manufactured in specific location for its special quality, credibility, historical stories/legends and other unique characteristics that other products do not have. A good example would be French Chateau Haut Veyrac made in Saint Émilion.

Tea from Certified origin is normally called Authentic tea. It has to start with how teas are named. In most cases, tea is named after location. For example, black tea Darjeeling is named after a small town Darjeeling, in West Bengal, India. Puerh tea is named after city Puerh, in Yunan, China.

Certified origin tea, by definition, means that tea from origin is protected by law and similar teas from other locations can not be called the same name. For example, green tea Long Jing (龙井，long chung, Dragon well) originally came from the location Long Jing in West Lake, city Hang Zhou, Zhe Jiang, China. Over years, tea from Long Jing area became famous for its high quality, flat shape, special manufacturing process, aroma, and legendary stories. To differentiate and protect this unique green tea, it is named West Lake Long Jing and protected by law. Other green tea in the same shape or processed in a similar way can not be named West Lake Long Jing.

There are a couple of reasons why teas from certified origin have incompatible quality than teas from other location:

• Geographic Location: Like foods, Florida Orange, or wine, such as Champagne, location matters! Where these products come from is part of what makes them unique. Camellia Sinensis, the tea plant, prefers acid and rocky soil, high mountains, ultraviolet Rays, diffused sun light, etc. These conditions, which are unique to each region and can not be replicated, have significant impacts on style, body and taste of tea. For example, the higher the mountain, the better quality the tea leaves.
• Climate: Camellia Sinensis in general prefers humid, shady, high temperature and high precipitation.
• Skilled labor: Tea manufacturing process is far more complicated and requires years of training and practice. These skills are passed through generations by generations and have evolved over years. Skilled workers in each origin are specialized and best in specific tea making process. It’s impossible to replicate.
• Intellectual heritage: Most of famous teas have hundred or thousand years of history and legends. For example, Long Jing started in Song Dynasty (11-12 century), became known in Yuan Dynasty, popular in Ming Dynasty and famous in Qing Dynasty (19-20 century). It is said that the Emperor of Qing Dynasty, Qian Long, one day visited Long Jing area. While he was following local girls to pluck tea leaves, his soldiers told him that his mother was ill and he needed to get home immediately. He put some tea leaves in his pocket before left. After days of traveling, the leaves became dried and aroma came out. His mother asked him where the aroma came from. He realized it was the tea leaves. His mother drank the tea and recovered completely. Qian Long then asked his staff to protect the 18 tea trees he plucked leaves and only serve for his mother. Today, the 18 Long Jing tea trees are still protected, for the unique history.
All these factors make the tea from certified origin special and have the best quality.

Drink tea, drink from origin!!