With the improvement of people's consumption level, the concept of green and health is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and "organic tea" has gradually attracted more and more consumers' attention. As my country's first certified organic product for export, organic tea has a development history of more than 30 years.

What is organic tea?

First of all, before learning about organic tea, let’s first introduce the concepts of organic production, organic processing, and organic products in the National Organic Product Standard (GB/T 19630-2019)!

Organic production
Following specific production principles, no genetically engineered organisms and their products are used in production, and chemically synthesized pesticides, fertilizers, growth regulators, feed additives and other substances are not used. An agricultural production method that follows the laws of nature and ecological principles, coordinates the balance of planting and breeding, and maintains the continued stability of the production system.

Organic processing
Mainly use organic ingredients, and do not use genetically engineered organisms and their products during the processing. A processing method that minimizes the use of chemically synthesized additives, processing aids, dyes and other inputs and maintains the nutritional content and original attributes of the product to the greatest extent.

Organic product
It refers to products that come from the organic agricultural production system, are produced, processed, and sold in accordance with organic agricultural production requirements and corresponding standards, and are certified by independent organic product certification agencies for human consumption and animal consumption.

Based on relevant authoritative experts, book descriptions and organic tea agricultural industry standards (NY 5196-2002), the definition of organic tea is: Organic tea is a kind of agricultural technology that follows the laws of nature and ecological principles in the production process of raw materials and adopts sustainable development that is beneficial to ecology and the environment. No synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, growth regulators and other substances are used, no synthetic food additives are used in the processing process, tea and related products that have been reviewed and certified by the organic tea certification agency.

The difference between organic tea and ordinary tea

Compared with ordinary tea, organic tea mainly has the following four characteristics:

1. The production environment has high requirements

The origin of organic tea must be in an agricultural production area with good ecological conditions, far away from pollution sources, and with sustainable production capabilities. The specific details are as follows:

1) The environmental air of the organic tea production base is required to be clean (in line with the secondary standard of GB 3095);

2) The content of heavy metal elements such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and chromium and pesticide residues such as 666 and DDT in the soil should be within the specified range (in line with the secondary standard of GB 15618);

3) Tea garden irrigation water requires clean water sources (in line with GB 5084 standards);

4) A certain distance should be maintained between tea gardens and main traffic lines, factories and towns. There should be no pollution sources nearby and upwind or upstream of rivers.

2. No synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, plant growth regulators, herbicides, etc. are allowed to be used during the production process.

1) Emphasize the use of continuous recycling and reuse of materials and energy within agriculture to fertilize the soil;

2) Emphasize the use of ecological and natural regulation, agricultural technical measures and physical methods to control the damage of pests and diseases;

3) Emphasize the use of ecologically beneficial technologies in agricultural production to reduce resource consumption and solve problems such as reduced biodiversity, soil fertility, and agricultural environmental pollution.

3. Pay attention to the entire process control of production, processing and sales.

Organic tea production adheres to the full-process quality and safety control "from tea garden to tea cup" and has a complete set of management methods and institutional systems. For example: "Organic Product Certification Management Measures", "Organic Product Certification Implementation Rules", "Organic Product Production, Processing, Labeling and Management System Requirements" (GB/T19630-2019), etc.

Whether it is field production, processing, or even sales, all must be operated according to standards and specifications, and each step must be recorded in detail. The record content includes tea garden inputs, harvest of raw materials, quality and quantity of processed products, product circulation and waste disposal, etc., making the products traceable.

4. Implement certification and label management

Organic tea must be certified by a certification body with organic product certification qualifications approved by the National Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China and certified in accordance with GB/T 19630 "Organic Products" and related rules. And the China Organic Product Certification Mark and its unique number, as well as the name or logo of the certification body must be printed on the minimum sales package of the product before it can be sold in the market.

Organic product certification data released by the National Certification and Accreditation Administration shows that organic tea gardens and processed products certified by the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (OTRDC) dominate the market.

Organic is the continuation of life, and it is also an eternal inheritance. Not all tea can be called organic tea. Behind "organic" are the gifts of nature and various rigorous tests. Drinking organic tea is not only a reverence for nature, but also self-protection for food safety and health.

For more information, price offer, samples, inspection reports, OEM production, etc., please feel free to reach us via: [email protected] or voice to us: +86-28-8754-3505.