"Huh, okay, Xiao Che, take out the firewood and rest for a while."
Tang Yuanming wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed heavily. This tea frying was really laborious work.
Fortunately, my body has improved now. If it had been in the past, I probably wouldn't have been able to straighten my waist.
Jiang Che nodded and immediately pulled out the wood from the stove and stuffed it into the plant ashes below.
"Grandpa Tang, you must be tired. Take a drink of water."
Jiang Che immediately brought a bowl of cold water. Tang Tian glanced at Jiang Che and nodded slightly before taking it.
"Xiao Che, I'm thirsty too. Why don't I have water to drink? Are you too biased?"
Mr. Sun said teasingly from the side, "Old Tang is really annoying. You come as soon as you say. Why do you have to bring your granddaughter with you?"
"Haha, come here, you two old men, you guys also want to drink water."
Jiang Che smiled, picked up the boiled water bottle, poured two bowls of cold water, and brought them to the two old men.
"You two old guys, you have to fight over everything."
After drinking the water, Tang Yuanming said angrily, turned around and spread out the freshly roasted tea leaves in the dustpan. Feeling that the heat on them had almost dissipated, he took it out.
Jiang Che poured a large ladle of water into the iron pot to cool it down.
Faced with Mr. Tang's complaints, Mr. Sun Weidong didn't care and turned to Jiang Che.
"Xiao Che, help me shovel out the burned charcoal from the stove."
Jiang Che nodded, took the shovel leaning against the wall, stuffed it into the stove, shoveled the red charcoal and followed Mr. Sun outside.
In the corridor of the small courtyard, Mr. Pan has prepared a steamer for drying tea leaves.
The drying equipment is very simple, an iron basin and a bamboo drying cage.
"Xiao Che put the charcoal into the iron basin, be careful not to burn it."
The three of them, Sun and Lao, carefully stepped aside.
Jiang Che nodded, walked over and poured the red-hot charcoal into it.
Then Mr. Sun took out a handful of smokeless charcoal from the snakeskin bag on the side. These smokeless charcoals were all handmade by the three old men these days.
Spread the smokeless charcoal evenly on the red-burned wood, and then wait until all the smokeless charcoal burns red and the smoke disappears.
Then put the drying cage on top of the iron basin, and then spread a layer of clean gauze inside the drying cage.
Finally, he took the dustpan from Mr. Tang's hand and evenly placed the newly fried tea leaves on the gauze.
It stopped after spreading a whole gauze, and then three old men and one young man moved a small horse and sat around the edge of the drying cage.
On this hot day, sitting around the charcoal stove is really a bit hot.
However, the three old men enjoyed it very much and observed the changes of the tea leaves very carefully.
Mr. Sun even took out his mobile phone, set up the stopwatch, and carefully turned the tea leaves on the drying cage from time to time according to the time.
It is very important to control the heat. If it is slow, the tea leaves may be burnt.
Originally, these tea leaves didn't have much moisture, and the first two processes were completed very well. If he failed, he would lose face.
After 20 minutes, Mr. Sun picked up a few tea leaves and gently twisted them with his thumb and index finger. The dark green tea leaves turned into fine powder easily.
"Okay, that's it."
Mr. Sun said excitedly, and immediately stood up and grabbed the four corners of the gauze and lifted it up.
Mr. Tang and Mr. Pan also stood up with interest, and they immediately came to the house.
I can finally taste tea made by myself, even though the quality of the tea is not that good.
But the three old people are still full of a sense of accomplishment. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, which can be regarded as the first step.
Mr. Tang immediately brought an electric kettle and a tea set, sat at the small square table and began to boil water and make tea.
It is actually uncomfortable to drink hot tea on a hot day, but the three gentlemen are still in high spirits.
Boil water, put tea leaves, pour boiling water, wash tea, make tea, and pour tea.
Soon the four little ones came out to make tea, and the three old men looked at the tea in front of them with great anticipation.
I picked it up and smelled it. The smell was just as expected.
After blowing on it, the three of them drank it all in one gulp. Suddenly, the three of them felt as if someone had strangled their necks.
The facial features are all squeezed towards the middle, and the wrinkles on the face are raised layer by layer, like three blooming chrysanthemums.
"puff……"
"It tastes terrible."
The three of them sprayed out and shouted, sticking out their tongues, and quickly rinsed their mouths with water.
Jiang Che picked up the tea cup and took a moment to catch sight of this scene, staring at the three old men in stunned silence.
Is this tea so bad?
After thinking about it, I decided to take a sip.
Suddenly, an extremely bitter taste with an irony taste, and a burnt taste filled the mouth.
The tip of my tongue was numb, so I quickly put down the tea cup. No wonder the three old men reacted so strongly.
This tastes so bad, it's almost like poison.
“After all, the quality of wild tea leaves is too poor, and there’s nothing we can do about the bitterness.”
"But the irony smell and burnt smell are due to the iron pot not being opened properly, and our skills are too rusty. We need to fry a few more pots of wild tea to remove the irony smell, otherwise the tea will be completely unpalatable.
"
Tang Yuanming calmed down for a while and then said breathlessly. Mr. Pan and Mr. Sun also nodded seriously.
The four of them rested for a while, sprinkled some more smokeless charcoal on the iron basin, and then covered it with a layer of plant ash to let it burn slowly.
Then the four of them immersed themselves in frying tea in the kitchen. During the frying process, Mr. Tang and Mr. Pan's skills improved rapidly, and they were already able to do it with ease.
The three old men stir-fried wild tea leaves for five pots before stopping.
"After frying five pots of tea leaves, the iron smell should be almost gone, right?"
Tang Yuanming took a breath, hit his lower back, and said with relief.
"Finally, fry a pot of wild tea leaves. Let's try the effect. If there are no problems, we can officially start frying."
"No problem, it will get dark if we delay it any longer." Mr. Pan nodded and said.
I was so engrossed in frying tea leaves that I didn't notice that the sun had already set, and it was past three in the afternoon.
"Okay, then cheer up and let's try it one last time."
Then Mr. Tang started again. About ten minutes later, the last pot of wild tea leaves came out.
When the temperature dropped, Mr. Sun immediately took it over and baked it. After twenty minutes, the baking was completed.
The four of them came to the table again and started brewing. Seeing that the three old men were very tired.
Jiang Che took over the task of making tea, poured a cup for the three old men, and then poured a cup for himself.
This time everyone learned the lesson, took a sip gently, smashed it in their mouths, felt it for a while, and then drank it all in one gulp.
"Well, the taste is much better this time, although it is still a bit astringent, and the irony and burnt smell is gone. It seems that we can start."
Tang Yuanming finished his drink and nodded seriously.
Mr. Pan and Mr. Sun also nodded seriously. They were very fond of Jiang Che's top-quality teas and could not tolerate any mistakes.
The three old men took a short rest and prepared to make tea in the best condition.
"Okay, let's go."
After resting for about half an hour, Tang Yuanming stood up energetically.
The four of them walked into the kitchen with serious faces, as if they were rushing to the college entrance examination room.