競賽與產業：以南投縣鹿谷鄉農會「凍頂烏龍茶」比賽為例（1970-2020）

Competition and Industry: A Case Study of the Dongding Oolong Tea Competition Held by the Lugu Farmers’Association (1970-2020)

本文聚焦於南投縣鹿谷鄉農會的凍頂烏龍茶比賽，探討競賽機制如何創建品牌，影響生產與消費型態，闡釋競賽機制與產業發展的相互作用。凍頂茶自1970年代躋身昂貴茗茶之列，卻因產品同質性高及欠缺具公信力的評鑑機制，面臨市場混亂的困境。為開闢新局，農會延續並改造傳統農產品的競賽機制，自1976年起藉舉辦茶賽傳遞凍頂茶的標準化要求，提高製茶品質並建置客觀評審制度，帶動凍頂茶發展。但參賽者為求佳績而獨尊評審標準，卻抹滅了各自的獨特風味；消費者若過於仰賴品牌與等級進行選購，反使選購空間受限，突顯競賽機制與產業發展既相互促進卻又制約的關係。當比賽日趨激烈，技術與資本門檻提高，也促使參賽者型態轉變，職業參賽者為增加得獎機率，挾其資本力與技術提高參賽件數；一般茶農則退出比賽，或轉種其他經濟作物，甚至離農轉業，致使鹿谷老茶區茶園面積萎縮。隨著凍頂茶產業變遷，產業端的反饋力量回頭形塑茶葉競賽制度。如凍頂茶的意涵自原先的產地連結，轉而成為兼具發酵香與焙火香的風味標準，並依循古法禁用擠壓機整形外觀。然而，比賽規模與場次的日益增加卻也暗藏隱憂，過度仰賴評鑑機制的權威性保證，僵固了農民與消費者對茶葉的認知，恐成為臺灣茶業未來發展的制約因素。

This paper investigated the Dongding Oolong Tea Competition held by the Lugu Farmers’Association in Nantou County. Specifically, it explored the interplay between competition mechanisms and industrial development by examining how competition mechanisms facilitated brand creation and influenced production and consumption models. Although Dongding oolong tea has been ranked among the most expensive tea products since the 1970s, it faces market confusion due to high product homogeneity and the lack of a credible evaluation mechanism. To open up new prospects, the Lugu Farmers’Association adopted and transformed the competition mechanisms for traditional agricultural products. From 1976, the Association has organized tea competitions aiming to promote standardization requirements for Dongding oolong tea, improve the quality of tea production and enhance the development of Dongding oolong tea through the establishment of an objective evaluation system. However, contestants focused exclusively on meeting the judging criteria for favorable competition results, thus erasing their own unique flavors; while consumers relied excessively on the brands and grades for their purchases, thus limiting their choices. These highlighted the mutually reinforcing yet restricting relationship between competition mechanisms and industrial development. As the competition became increasingly fierce, the rise in technical and capital thresholds of tea production also led to a change in the contestant demographics. Professional contestants, aiming to increase their chances of winning, leveraged their capital and technology to submit more entries, while ordinary tea farmers withdrew from the competition and switched to other cash crops or careers, causing a decline in tea production in Lugu. As the Dongding oolong tea industry evolves, the feedback from the tea industry has reshaped the tea competition system. Dongding oolong tea, which originally carried the connotation related to the place of origin, now stands for a flavor standard with both fermented and roasted aromas, strict adherence to the traditional production method and prohibition of extruder use for appearance modification. However, the increasing scale and frequency of competitions may also lead to undue reliance on the authoritative guarantee of the evaluation system, which stagnates farmers and consumers’understanding of tea and may undermine the future development of Taiwan’s tea industry.