Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 117 1112 [Fried tea is a luxury item]

In addition to his status as a famous Confucian, Chen Yuan was first of all a son, and he was famous for his poetic talent all his life.

Since he is a young master, he mostly likes fighting tea and tasting tea.

Picking up the teacup that was still steaming, Chen Yuan observed its color first, and tasted it: "The tea soup is green, with a light yellow background, this... I don't know how to evaluate it."

The first part of tea tasting stumped Chen Yuan.

Because of the tea fighting in the Song Dynasty, pure white tea soup is the best, which shows that the tea buds are fat and tender, and the production is just right.

If the tea soup is bluish white, it means that the heat is not enough when steaming the tea.

If the tea soup is off-white, it means that the heat is too high when steaming the tea.

The tea soup is yellowish white, which belongs to the worst tea.

The tea brewed by Zhu Guoxiang in front of him is turquoise in color with a little amber yellow.This has gone beyond the scope of judging tea fighting, it is more like light green loose tea (steamed green) tea soup, which is not eligible to be tasted by refined scholars according to the rules.

Zhu Guoxiang continued to cook the chicken soup: "Your Excellency is pure and fragrant, your Excellency has seen its beauty, please smell its fragrance again."

"I've already smelled it," said Chen Yuan, "The round tea has a strong aroma, just like the rich and noble people. The fragrance of this tea is clear, just like the indifferent and refined people."

Tea tasting in the Song Dynasty also pursued elegance and nature.

However, in order to get rid of the astringent taste, we can only use methods such as soaking in water and squeezing the juice, which will cause the tea to lose too many active ingredients, so that the aroma and taste will be greatly reduced.Then you have to boil the tea paste to enhance the aroma and taste of the tea, and finally bring back the dull greenness of the steamed tea.

Therefore, the aroma of tuan tea is very stuffy and thick, and there are very few that can achieve a delicate fragrance, and most people can't afford it at all.

The few bowls of tea that Zhu Guoxiang brewed, although the color of the soup is not top-notch, the aroma is top-quality.

Min Wenwei couldn't help but take a sip first, savoring the taste carefully: "Slightly bitter, not astringent, lack of aftertaste... No, there is also a sweet aftertaste, but the return is not as fast as Tuancha. The feeling of creaminess is not as good as Tuancha, but it is different taste."

Zhu Guoxiang made green tea, how could it not be astringent?

But compared with Tuancha, the astringency is negligible.

If Tuancha is not to be bitter, it is necessary to add spices when boiling the tea paste.But with the addition of spices, although the astringency is suppressed, the original taste of the tea is also suppressed.

The real advantage of group tea is that it is smooth and smooth, and it is far superior to fried tea in this respect.

Taken together, it can only be said that each has its own merits.

Chen Yuan also took two sips, and suddenly said with emotion: "When I was young, I read the phrase 'Six must be roasted to fill the room with fragrance', and I have never understood the meaning. It turns out that tea can really be roasted."

This sentence comes from Liu Yuxi's "Xishan Lanruo Trying Tea Song", which describes the mountain monk entertaining him to drink tea, which shows that the Tang Dynasty had tea-frying technology.

But in the poem, mountain monks make tea not only by frying, but also by frying.It is likely that the tea is first fried to kill greens, and then fried like medicine, thrown in a pile of green onion, ginger and garlic, and finally the fried tea soup is drunk.This way of drinking is different from the Song Dynasty, and also different from the Ming Dynasty.

Holding the tea cup in his hand, Min Wenwei concluded: "Looking at its color, it is green and pleasing; smelling it, its fragrance is high. It really is a gentleman's fragrance, this is a gentleman's tea!"

Chen Yuan added: "The soup of Tuancha, under the blow, the soup noodles are magnificent and complicated, just like a mansion Huayu. But the noodle soup of this tea is ordinary, like a hut in a back alley. It is very fast, so it is unavoidable to be eager for quick success; this tea is bitter but not astringent, and the aftertaste is slow and long, although it is indifferent but does not lose its original taste. Don't change the joy. This is the tea of ​​a sage, and this is the tea of ​​Yan Hui!"

Ju Ming held the teacup and just drank it, hiding his head and suppressing a smile.

The two old men in front of them were obviously influenced by Zhu Guoxiang's words, and had a preconceived perception bias, and they wanted to associate fried tea with a gentleman anyway.

"I want 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, they can buy it and hype it like crazy.

Zheng Hong is very keenly aware of business opportunities!

Zhu Ming poured out the tea and brewed a bowl for Zheng Hong.

When the tea was slightly cool, Zheng Hong took a sip and shouted in his heart that he had been fooled.He prefers to drink tuan tea, although the taste is more astringent, but it is pressed with spices, sweet and mellow, smooth and refreshing, much more delicious than this broken fried tea!
Fatty Zheng thought to himself, I am really not a gentleman, and I am not used to drinking the tea of ​​a gentleman.

"How?" Zhu Ming asked with a smile.

Zheng Hong immediately praised: "It's really good tea!"

Zhu Ming asked again: "What's a good way?"

Zheng Hong held back for a long time, and said, "It's as good as what the head of the mountain and Mr. Chen said."

"Hahahaha!"

Everyone laughed when they heard the words.

Chen Yuan briefly said: "The taste of tuan tea is too mixed, like the five colors of the world are confusing, but it loses the true taste of tea. There is one thing about this fried tea that is the best, all the miscellaneous flavors are gone, and the original flavor always remains."

Zheng Hong couldn't help asking: "How much of this kind of tea is there in Daming Village?"

Before his father could speak, Zhu Ming said first, "This tea is not easy to make, the output is very small, and the price is also expensive."

Zheng Hong hurriedly said: "The price is easy to negotiate, let's start with two hundred catties!"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "It may not be possible to produce so much. Since the Zheng family is willing to buy, I will go back and ask the tea workers to rush to make some. The price is not at the advantage of the Zheng family. The grades are comparable to group tea."

It's so 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 catty of tuancha can produce at least five or six catties of fried tea, yet Zhu Guoxiang actually set the price the same.

Especially those "old leaves" in late spring are not even qualified to make third-class tuancha, and can only be made into loose tea for the low-level people.But it doesn't matter if it is made into fried tea, the taste is just worse, and it can be sold at a lower price than tuancha.

If this thing is hyped well, it is simply a profiteering business.

Zheng Hong said again: "If my family buys this Junzi tea, can you write down what you gentlemen just said?"

"Of course." Min Wenwei smiled.

Min Wenwei is so active, it is obvious that he wants to make a name for himself.Once the fried tea sells well, his fame will also spread, letting countless people know that he is a real gentleman who knows how to taste tea.

Zhu Ming called Bai Sheng over and asked him to go back to his house to get his pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Min Wenwei took the lead to write down his comments on fried tea.

Then it was passed on to Chen Yuan, and Chen Yuan wrote with a smile: "Such a good tea, we can't specialize in beauty, we must let more people eat it."

Finally, the pen and paper passed to Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming only wrote two words: loose tea.

Zheng Hong's eyes lit up, and he already knew what it meant.

Tuancha must go to the tea horse company, and 20% of the selling price will be taken away. This commission is called "tea interest", that is, [-]% of the tax will be collected when the tea leaves the factory.

Take it for sale in other places, and there are checkpoints along the way, and a tax is charged once after passing a checkpoint.If you sell locally, in addition to paying shop tax, you have to pay another purchase fee.

Loose tea is allowed to be sold without going through the tea horse.Although it can only be sold locally, and there is a quota limit, there is a lot of room for manipulation, and the related purchase money is also extremely low.

The shape of fried tea is similar to that of steamed loose tea, so it can be used as loose tea to avoid taxes!

Zheng Hong asked, "Can I give you two cans first?"

"Take it." Zhu Guoxiang pushed two bamboo tubes over.

Zheng Hong put away the tea leaves and comments, bowed and said, "Mr. Wan please leave first!"

This guy ran all the way down the mountain, went home and rushed to his father's yard, found that his father was not at home, and ran towards his grandfather's yard.

His grandfather's name was Zheng Lan. When his grandson came back, his first reaction was to scold him: "Why are you playing truant again? You have no intention of studying, so you should stay in the academy and make more friends. Most of the students in the academy are the rich and noble children of Yangzhou. Being able to make good friends with them is good for our business!"

"Weng Weng," Zheng Hong said coquettishly, "I'm going home this time, but I have serious business to do."

"Apart from eating, drinking and having fun, what other serious business do you have?" Zheng Lan said angrily.

"This is tea." Zheng Hong took out the bamboo tube first, and then handed over the piece of paper, "This is what the head of the mountain and Mr. Chen said about tea tasting."

Zheng Lan read the comments carefully, half-believing and half-doubting: "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, that's true. A gentleman should drink gentleman's tea. If he can't drink gentleman's tea, he is not a real gentleman. Although there are few real gentlemen in the world, there are many hypocrites. And the more hypocrites, the more Tea sells better."

Zheng Hong pointed to the word "loose tea" again: "Weng Weng, please take a look."

Zheng Lan immediately opened the bamboo tube, poured out some tea leaves in the palm of her hand, and carefully observed the smell: "It is indeed not steamed, and the fragrance is not dull. If it can be sold as loose tea, there is no need to hide it from the tea horse, and it can save a lot of tax." Huh. Officials are very dull, and our family still has a public servant in the company, so they have to dawdle for several years, and they will not know to increase taxes until Junzi Tea is sold in Yangzhou."

Zheng Lan asked the servant to boil water again, and asked, "Brew it like loose tea?"

"Just brew it." Zheng Hong said.

After a while, Zheng Lan began to drink tea.

He has sold tea all his life, and his evaluation is extremely accurate: "This tea is better than a simple word. It removes its bitterness and retains its original taste. There must be people who like to drink it."

There is no need to pretend at home, Zheng Hong expressed his true thoughts: "I think tuancha is better, this kind of tea is not very tasty."

"Niu Chew Peony, you know what a fart," Zheng Lan scolded, and said, "I keep these two tubes of tea, and I keep them for entertaining guests. By the way, who made Junzi tea?"

Zheng Hong said: "It is Zhu Chenggong, a scholar of the Eight Elements, whose father is also a reclusive Confucian. He has friendship with Lu Tixue and Mr. Chen."

Zheng Lan pondered: "Mr. Chen, I know that he is a famous Confucian from Nanjian invited by the head of the mountain. Lu Ti is also very knowledgeable. Both of them appreciate it. It seems that Zhu Chenggong's father is really a great Confucian. This will sell better Junzi tea is ready, have you already ordered from them?"

Zheng Hong replied: "I ordered two hundred catties, saying that this tea is not easy to make, so it may not be possible to produce so much. The price has also been roughly discussed, and we will sell it according to the price of the group tea."

"Scarcity is the most expensive thing. After we buy it, the price has to go up." Zheng Lan smiled as a profiteer, "How can the tea that a gentleman drinks not be more expensive? The more face you have."

Zheng Hong suggested: "Let the craftsmen make tea tubes, carve plums, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums, and then carve some gentleman's poems, and sell them together with the tea tubes!"

Zheng Lan felt very relieved, and praised: "You can do business like this, you are really a thousand-mile horse!"

The old and the young planned to sell the fried tea as a high-end gift.

There are Min Wenwei and Chen Yuan as endorsements, it was made by the father of the Eight Elements Scholars, and the tea maker has a very good personal relationship with Lu Tixue, and there is some gentlemanly character involved, and this year's production is also small, which already has the luxury goods. all elements.

Even a piece of shit can sell for gold!
(End of this chapter)