Traceability
Every lot traces to a plot and a picking date
This is the thing a large trading house structurally cannot offer. Spot-bought tea cannot be traced backwards with any honesty — so we do not buy that way.
The supply model
Whole-garden annual contracts
Rather than buying on the spot market, we contract the entire annual yield of the gardens we work with. The farming family keeps the land and the work; we take the output and set the picking standard.
Why it matters commercially
It lets us commit volume before a season begins rather than bidding for it afterwards, and it is what makes plot-and-date traceability possible at all. Spot-bought tea cannot be traced backwards with any honesty.
What it does not mean
We do not own the gardens. Anyone telling you they own every hectare behind a Chinese origin tea is usually describing an aspiration. Contracted output is the normal, workable structure — and we would rather describe it accurately.
The chain of record
Contract the garden
We agree the full annual yield of a garden with the farming family before the season. The land and the work stay theirs; the output and the picking standard are ours to specify.
Record the pluck
Each delivery of fresh leaf is recorded against the plot, the date and the plucking standard. This is the origin of every downstream record.
Keep batches separate
Leaf from different plots and dates is processed as separate batches rather than pooled. Pooling is cheaper and destroys traceability permanently.
Cup and test
Each finished batch is cupped against retained reference samples and sampled for multi-residue analysis before release.
Mark the carton
Lot number and production date are printed on every carton — not only on the packing list, which gets separated from the goods.
Ship the record with the goods
The certificate of analysis travels with the shipment, and its lot number matches what is printed on the cartons.
What is on the record
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Garden reference | Identifier for the contracted plot |
| Altitude | Metres above sea level for that plot |
| Cultivar | Huangjincha No.1 / No.2 / No.8 |
| Picking date | The day the leaf was plucked |
| Plucking standard | Pure bud / one bud one leaf / one bud two leaves |
| Processing batch | Production run identifier |
| Production date | Date the batch was finished and packed |
| Analysis reference | Certificate of analysis number for that batch |