The non-standardization of tea is the biggest obstacle to large-scale production

Tea quality is influenced by multiple variables, including production area, altitude, soil, season, harvesting standards, and processing techniques. The industry has long lacked unified and practical grading standards, making tea production highly dependent on the experience of tea masters, and the consistency between different batches from the same mountain is difficult to guarantee. This non-standardization restricts large-scale production from two ends: on the production side, modular replication is impossible, and capacity expansion inevitably leads to a decline in quality control; on the market side, quality cannot be quantified, and pricing lacks an objective anchor. In 2025, sensory grading standards for Laoshan green tea and Qingdao black tea were approved, and the national standard for the geographical indication of Anxi Tieguanyin was implemented. Standardization is still in its early stages, and there is still a long way to go before it covers the entire industry chain.