A Chinese entrepreneur based in the southwestern city of Chengdu has launched a pricey organic green tea grown solely from the poo of pandas.
An Yanshi, a former calligraphy teacher, started growing the tea in the mountains of neighbouring Ya'an city last year with the help of local tea farmers. He collected tonnes of excrement from the pandas housed at the Chengdu and Ya'an panda research base to grow his prized crop.
The first batch of tea harvested from his tea plantation will debut at around 220,000 yuan (NZ$3,830) per 500 grams. It is a price tag An said would set his product to become the world's "most expensive tea".
He has invested close to 1 million yuan (NZ$191,800) in his venture and has been growing the tea with the cooperation of panda reserves and local tea merchants.
Citing scientific research, An chose to use the excrement of panda bears as an organic fertiliser for his tea because of its high nutritional value.
"The digestive and absorption abilities of the panda are not good. They keep eating and they keep producing faeces. They are like a machine that is churning out organic fertiliser. Also, they absorb less than 30 percent of the nutrition from the food and that means more than 70 percent of the nutrients are passed out in their faeces," he said.
He reasoned that since panda bears only eat bamboo grown in the wild, tea leaves grown from its excrement would be truly organic.
An also wants to encourage more farmers to use animal dung instead of chemical fertilisers for their crops.
Dressed in a panda suit to promote his tea and his environmental message, An invited dozens of guests from neighbouring Chengdu and the local tea farming community to help in pick the first batch of tea at his tea plantation in the mountains of Ya'an.
At the launch of his simply-branded "Panda Tea", An defended the hefty price tag. He said his tea would be sold in different batches - the most expensive being only from the first batch of tea picked every year in spring, considered its best grade.
An said he will channel all the profits from the sale of the limited edition tea sets to set up a fund used to support environmental projects.
He said he hopes his brand of tea will push more people in China to look at innovative ways to help save the environment.
Critics have slammed An's tea as just a promotional and marketing gimmick and have questioned the benefits of using panda excrement as an organic fertiliser.
3 News / Reuters
source: newshub archive
