In addition to his status as a famous Confucian, Chen Yuan was first of all a young man, and he was famous for his poetic talent throughout his life.
Since he is a young man, he most likely likes to fight and taste tea.
Picking up the steaming tea cup, Chen Yuan first looked at its color and tasted it: "The tea soup is green with a light yellow background. I don't know how to evaluate it."
During the first session of tea tasting, Chen Yuan was stumped.
Because of the tea competition in the Song Dynasty, pure white tea soup was the best, indicating that the tea buds were plump and tender, and the preparation was just right.
If the tea soup is greenish-white, it means that the heat during steaming of the tea was insufficient.
If the tea soup is off-white, it means the tea was overheated during steaming.
The tea soup is yellowish white, which is the worst quality tea.
The tea brewed by Zhu Guoxiang in front of me is greenish-green with a hint of amber yellow. This is beyond the scope of tea competition and is more like a light green loose tea (steamed green) tea soup. According to the rules, it is not qualified to be tasted by elegant people.
Zhu Guoxiang continued to make chicken soup: "You are a gentleman, you have seen his appearance, please smell his fragrance again."
"I've already smelled it," Chen Yuan said after tasting it. "The aroma of Tuan tea is thick and thick, just like that of a wealthy person. The aroma of this tea is clear, just like that of an indifferent and elegant person."
Tea tasting in the Song Dynasty also pursued elegance and nature.
However, in order to remove the astringent taste, we can only soak it in water, squeeze juice, etc., which will cause the tea leaves to lose too many active ingredients, so the aroma and taste will be greatly reduced. Then we have to make tea paste to enhance the aroma and taste of the tea leaves. As a result
It also brings back the dull feeling of steamed tea.
Therefore, the fragrance of Tuancha is very dull and thick, and few can achieve a refreshing fragrance, so most people cannot afford to drink it.
Although the color of these bowls of tea brewed by Zhu Guoxiang is not good, the aroma is of the highest quality.
Min Wenwei couldn't help but take a sip first and tasted the taste carefully: "It's slightly bitter, not astringent, and lacks a sweet aftertaste... No, there is a sweet aftertaste, but it's not as fast as Tuancha. The greasy feeling is not as good as Tuancha, but it's different.
taste."
What Zhu Guoxiang made was green tea, how could it not be astringent?
But compared with Tuancha, the astringency is negligible.
If you want Tuancha to be less bitter, you have to add additional spices when making the tea paste. But by adding spices, although the astringency is suppressed, the original flavor of the tea is also suppressed.
The real advantage of Tuancha is that it is smooth and promotes fluid production, and in this aspect it is far superior to fried tea.
Taken together, we can only say that each has its own merits.
Chen Yuan also took a few sips and suddenly sighed: "When I was a child, I read the sentence 'It must be fried to make the room full of fragrance'. I never understood its meaning. It turns out that tea can really be fried."
This sentence comes from Liu Yuxi's "Xishan Lanruo Tea Testing Song", describing the mountain monk entertaining him to drink tea, which shows that the tea frying technology existed in the Tang Dynasty.
But in the poem, the mountain monk made tea, not only frying it, but also frying it. It is very likely that he fried the tea first to make it green, then fried it like medicine, threw in a bunch of green onions, ginger and garlic, and finally drank the decoction. This is how to drink it
, different from the Song Dynasty, and different from the Ming Dynasty.
Min Wenwei held the tea cup and concluded: "Looking at the color, the green color is pleasant; smelling the fragrance, the fragrance is high. It is indeed a gentleman's fragrance, this is a gentleman's tea!"
Chen Yuan added: "The tea soup, when brushed, the soup surface is magnificent and complex, like a mansion. But the tea soup noodles are ordinary, like a hut in a shabby alley. The taste of the tea group is sweet and mellow, with bitterness contained in it, and the aftertaste is sweet.
It is extremely fast, and it is inevitable that there is a suspicion of eagerness for quick success; this tea is bitter but not astringent, and the sweet taste is slow and long. Although it is indifferent, it does not lose its original taste. The Master said, one basket of food, one ladle of drink, people in the back alleys cannot bear the worry, and after returning
It does not change its joy. This is the tea of the wise man, the tea of Yan Hui!"
Ju Ming held the cup of tea and just drank, burying his head and suppressing his laughter.
The two brothers in front of them were obviously influenced by Zhu Guoxiang's words and had preconceived perceptions. They always associated fried tea with gentlemen.
"I want to have a drink too!"
Fatty Zheng came over quietly. He was curious and planned to taste the fried tea.
His family is a tea merchant. If this tea is really that good, he can buy it and speculate it like crazy.
Zheng Hong is very keenly aware of business opportunities!
Ju Ming poured out the tea and made a bowl for Zheng Hong.
After the tea had cooled down a bit, Zheng Hong took a sip and thought he had been fooled. He preferred to drink Tuancha. Although the astringency was stronger, it was packed with spices and made sweet, mellow, smooth and refreshing. It was much more flavorful than this fried tea!
Fatty Zheng thought to himself, I am indeed not a gentleman, and I am not used to drinking a gentleman's tea.
"How?" Zhu Ming asked with a smile.
Zheng Hong immediately praised: "What a good tea!"
Zhu Ming asked again: "What's a good way?"
Zheng Hong held it in for a long time and said, "It's as good as what the mountain chief and Mr. Chen said."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
When everyone heard this, they laughed immediately.
Chen Yuan briefly summarized: "The taste of Tuancha is too complex, just like the five colors in the world, and the true flavor of tea is lost. The best thing about this fried tea is that all the other flavors are removed, and the original flavor is always retained."
Zheng Hong couldn't help but ask: "How many of this kind of tea are there in Daming Village?"
Before his father could speak, Ju Ming said first, "This tea is not easy to make, the output is very small, and the price is also expensive."
Zheng Hong said hurriedly: "The price is easy to negotiate, let's get two hundred catties first!"
Zhu Guoxiang said: "We may not be able to sell that much. Since the Zheng family is willing to buy it, I will go back and ask the tea workers to make some. The price will not be taken advantage of by the Zheng family. The grade will be comparable to Tuancha."
This is so damn dark!
The production process of Tuancha is extremely complicated and takes a long time, and the selection of tea buds is also more stringent. The production cost of one pound of Tuancha is at least five or six pounds of fried tea, but Zhu Guoxiang actually set the price at the same price.
Especially those "old leaves" in late spring are not even qualified to make third-class group tea, and can only be made into loose tea for the lower class people. But it doesn't matter if it is made into fried tea, the taste is just worse, and you can compare prices with lower-grade group teas for sale
.
If this thing is well-hyped, it can be a hugely profitable business.
Zheng Hong added: "If my family buys this gentleman's tea, can you write down what the gentlemen just said?"
"Of course you can." Min Wenwei smiled.
Min Wenwei is so active and clearly wants to become famous. Once the roasted tea sells well, his reputation will also spread, letting countless people know that he is a true gentleman who knows how to taste tea.
Zhu Ming called Bai Sheng over and asked him to go back to the house to get pens, ink, paper and inkstones.
Min Wenwei was the first to write down his own comments about fried tea.
Then it was passed to Chen Yuan, who wrote and said with a smile: "I can't be the only one to make such a good tea, but more people must enjoy it."
Finally, the paper and pen were passed into Ju Ming's hands.
Ju Ming only wrote two words: loose tea.
Zheng Hong's eyes lit up when he saw it, and he already knew what it meant.
Tuancha must be purchased from the Tea Horse Company, and 20% of the selling price will be taken away. This commission is called "tea interest", which means that 20% tax will be levied on the tea when it leaves the factory.
If you sell it to other places, there are checkpoints along the way, and you will be charged a tax once you pass each checkpoint. If you sell it locally, in addition to paying store tax, you also have to pay a purchase price.
Loose tea is allowed to be sold by oneself without going through a tea master. Although it can only be sold locally and there is a quota limit, the operating space is very large and the related purchase money is extremely low.
The appearance of fried tea is similar to that of steamed loose tea. You can use it as loose tea to reasonably avoid taxes!
Zheng Hong asked: "Can I give you two tubes first?"
"Take it." Zhu Guoxiang pushed over two bamboo tubes.
Zheng Hong put away the tea leaves and comments, bowed and said: "I'll take my leave first!"
This guy ran all the way down the mountain, rushed home and rushed to his father's yard. When he found that his father was not at home, he ran towards his grandfather's yard again.
His grandfather's name was Zheng Lan. When his grandson came back, his first reaction was to scold him: "Why did you skip school again? You have no intention of studying. You should stay in the academy and make more friends. Most of the students in the academy are wealthy children from Yangzhou.
Being able to make friends with them will be good for our business!"
"Weng Weng," Zheng Hong said coquettishly, "I have something serious to do when I go home this time."
"Besides eating, drinking and having fun, what other serious things do you do?" Zheng Lan asked angrily.
"These are tea leaves," Zheng Hong first took out the bamboo tube and handed over the piece of paper, "this is what the mountain chief and Mr. Chen said when they tasted the tea leaves."
Zheng Lan read the comments carefully and said with half-belief and doubt, "Is this tea really that good?"
Zheng Hong said: "I haven't tasted it yet, but if the gentlemen say yes, it must be excellent. Even if it is not good, you must say yes, otherwise you are not a gentleman."
Zheng Lan was amused by these words: "Haha, it's true. A gentleman should drink gentleman's tea. If you can't drink gentleman's tea, you are not a true gentleman. Although there are few true gentlemen in the world, there are many hypocrites. And the more hypocrites there are, the more gentlemen will be."
The better the tea sells."
Zheng Hong pointed to the word loose tea again: "Weng Weng, please take a look."
Zheng Lan immediately opened the bamboo tube, poured some tea leaves into the palm of his hand, and carefully observed the smell: "It is indeed not steamed, and the fragrance is not stuffy. If it can be sold as loose tea, there is no need to hide it from the tea master, and a lot of tax can be saved.
Interested. Officials are very slow. We still have officials in the office, so we have to wait for several years until Junzi Tea is sold in foreign countries, and they will know to raise taxes."
Zheng Lan asked his servant to boil water again and asked, "Brew like loose tea?"
"Just brew it." Zheng Hong said.
After it cooled down for a while, Zheng Lan began to taste tea.
He has been selling tea all his life, and his evaluation is extremely accurate: "This tea is better than a pure word. It removes the bitterness and retains its original taste. Some people will definitely like to drink it."
There is no need to pretend at home, Zheng Hong expressed his true thoughts: "I think Tuancha tastes better, this kind of tea doesn't have much flavor."
"You know nothing about cows chewing peonies," Zheng Lan scolded and said, "I kept these two tubes of tea for entertaining guests. By the way, whose family makes Junzi tea?"
Zheng Hong said: "That is Zhu Chenggong, the scholar of the Eighth Route Army. His father is actually a reclusive scholar, and he has friendship with Lu Tixue and Mr. Chen."
Zheng Lan thought: "Mr. Chen, I know that he is a famous Confucian from Nanjian invited by the mountain chief. Lu Tixue is also very knowledgeable. Both of them admired it. It seems that the father of Zhu Chenggong is really a great Confucian. This will make it easier to sell.
Gentleman’s tea, have you placed an order from them?”
Zheng Hong replied: "I ordered two hundred kilograms. I said that this tea is not easy to make and may not be able to produce that much. The price was also roughly negotiated, and we sold it in different grades according to the price of Tuancha."
"Things are rare and expensive. After we buy them, the price will go up." Zheng Lan said with a profiteer smile. "How can the tea that a gentleman drinks be sold more expensively? The more expensive it is, the more people will buy it."
The more face you have."
Zheng Hong suggested: "We can let the craftsmen make tea tubes, carve plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums, and then engrave some poems by gentlemen, and sell them with the tea tube!"
Zheng Lan was greatly relieved and praised: "It's my family's best to be able to do business like this!"
The old man and the young man actually planned to sell fried tea as a high-end gift.
With the endorsements of Min Wenwei and Chen Yuan, it was made by the father of the Eighth Line Scholars, and the tea maker had a very good personal relationship with Lu Tixue. What kind of gentlemanly character is involved? Moreover, the output this year is small, and it has become a luxury product.
All elements.
Even a piece of shit can be sold for the price of gold!