Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 21 0020 [Concept of Fried Tea]

"Wukong was very happy, so I took a look at the treasure. There are two golden hoops at both ends, and a piece of black iron in the middle, with a line of words engraved on it, called Ruyi Golden Hoop Cudgel, weighing [-] catties! Pop... I'll take a drink first."

In the evening of the second day, before it was dark, the villagers began to gather.

Some people even came here with their rice bowls in their hands, for fear of missing some stories.

Although it is the busy season of farming, it is not particularly busy.

It won't work in a few days, picking tea, planting millet or sorghum, harvesting rapeseed, transplanting rice seedlings, cocooning silkworms... a series of farm work is waiting, there are things to do day and night, and I fall asleep when I am free, so I don't have any energy. Listen to the story?

Let's talk about Monkey King breaking into the Dragon Palace today, and all the villagers were dumbfounded.

That is Lord Dragon!
Shen Yourong brought a bowl of tea and handed it to Zhu Ming whose throat was dry: "Da Lang, drink the tea first."

Zhu Ming took the swig, took a sip, and almost spit it out.

Bitter and astringent, it's so unpalatable.

There are three kinds of tea in the Song Dynasty, namely black tea, powdered tea and waxed tea.

Ming tea, also known as loose tea, is a popular drink. Not only does it look similar to later generations of tea, but it can also be poured into boiling water for drinking.But this thing is steamed, not fried, and the astringent taste has not been removed, and the taste is indescribable.

The real rich people in the Song Dynasty only drank powdered tea and waxed tea. The process is complicated, the price is expensive, and the fragrance is delicious.

Seeing Zhu Ming drinking with a strange expression, Shen Yourong couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

This pretty widow would have misunderstood it, thinking that the Zhu family and his son must have come from a wealthy background, so they are not used to drinking cheap loose tea.However, powdered tea and baked tea were too expensive, and Shen Yourong couldn't afford them at all, and even felt inferior because of this.

Inferiority is because I feel that I am not worthy of Zhu Xianggong.

Zhu Xianggong is full of knowledge and knowledge, and was rich in his early years, but she is just a country widow.

"Haha, this tea is strong." Zhu Ming smiled and took another sip. "It's too astringent at first, but after drinking it, it becomes sweeter. It has a different flavor."

Hearing these words, Shen Yourong finally became happy, although she knew that these were words of comfort.

Zhu Ming continued to tell the story until Sun Wukong rushed into the underworld angrily, forcibly demanded the book of life and death, and canceled all the monkeys.

"If you want to know what will happen next, let's listen to the next breakdown!"

It's already very late, and they have to get up to work tomorrow, and some villagers still don't want to leave.

It was too shocking, Sun Wukong learned the skill of smashing the sky, first subdued the Dragon King of the Four Seas, and then shocked the Ten Temples of Yama.Don't say they haven't heard of such an approach, they didn't even dare to think about it before.

There is also a button at the end, saying that the Dragon King filed a complaint and asked the Jade Emperor to call the shots.

How will the Jade Emperor deal with Monkey King?
The villagers were very itchy at this moment, wishing that little Zhu Xiucai could finish his speech all night.

"It's over, it's over, haha, we'll talk about it tomorrow." Zhu Ming turned and went back to the house to rest, leaving a group of villagers watching eagerly.

After everyone dispersed, Grandma Yan brought tea and inquired privately: "Da Lang, has Sun Wukong been captured by the Jade Emperor?"

Ju Ming treats the audience equally: "The old lady will know tomorrow."

Grandma Yan was also anxious, but she couldn't ask any more questions, so she turned and went back to her room, her mind was full of Journey to the West.

After a while, Zhu Guoxiang came in with a wooden bucket, and said angrily: "Master Zhu, the foot washing water is here, please lift your feet up and wash them."

"Thank you, Dean Zhu." Zhu Ming smiled playfully.

Zhu Guoxiang admonished: "Next time we wash our feet by ourselves, we are slow to do it, and it will be Mrs. Shen who will bring the water."

"I'm too busy with storytelling today, so I forgot it for a while," Ju Ming explained.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help complaining: "If you talk about "Journey to the West", just talk about it directly. Why talk about it in a mess? It's fine to say that I went to sea to do business, but also said that I have been to the country of daughters, and that I met gods on Penglai Xiandao."

Zhu Ming said solemnly: "Raise your old status. Firstly, it can dilute the scandal, and secondly, it will give you a momentum to innovate agriculture. Your agricultural technology, even sweet potatoes and corn, can be said to be granted by immortals. The villagers are ignorant, It’s useless to say more, they prefer to believe in the teaching of the immortals.”

Zhu Guoxiang thought about it carefully, then nodded and said, "That's right, it's more convenient to do things this way."

Zhu Ming suddenly asked: "Did you drink the tea made by Mrs. Shen?"

"After drinking, the bitter taste is acceptable, but the astringent taste is too strong." Zhu Guoxiang commented.

Zhu Ming asked, "Does your Agricultural College have a major in tea?"

"There is a tea department." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Zhu Ming asked: "How much do you know about Song Cha?"

"I don't know much about it, I only talked about it with my colleagues," Zhu Guoxiang carefully recalled, "Steamed tea was eliminated in the Ming Dynasty, and the steamed tea method was reintroduced in New China in order to export foreign exchange, mainly exported to Japan, the former Soviet Union and Russia. Due to the market The scale is too small, and steamed tea has never been popular in China.”

Zhu Ming said: "I'm also embarrassed to ask Mrs. Shen if all Song teas have this taste. But according to the description in ancient books, it seems that Song teas are fragrant without adding sugar."

Zhu Guoxiang happened to know: "It's caused by technical reasons. Modern tea steaming technology has been innovated, using scientific methods, and the astringency has been greatly reduced. Song tea is not at this level. The tea department of our hospital has participated in technological innovation. At that time, I It’s just an associate professor. I heard from colleagues that Song tea is also divided into grades. The low-grade tea is this kind of loose tea, which is sold to ordinary people. The process of high-grade tea is complicated, and the price rises exponentially, which can completely remove the astringency.”

Zhu Ming pondered: "That is to say, replacing steamed tea with fried tea is a process of tea becoming popular. It makes tea without astringent taste cheaper and easier to make, and it is no longer a special product for wealthy people."

"Stir-fried tea can also save labor when picking tea." Zhu Guoxiang added.

Zhu Ming asked, "Is the tea-picking part different?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The tea-making process is different. In the Song Dynasty, tea picking was finished before nine o'clock in the morning, and the tea buds were required to have dew. Later, when tea was picked, work was not started until nine o'clock, because the tea leaves with dew, when roasting It will burn the tip. In this way, the tea picking time of Song tea is shorter, and more tea picking workers need to be invested."

Zhu Ming slapped his hands fiercely: "I figured it out. Why did hundreds of thousands of people mobilize together to describe the scene of picking tea in Song poems? But in the mountainous area of ​​Hanzhong, due to the fleeing of low-level tea farmers, there was not enough tea picking manpower. Some tea farm owners had to Downsizing, even unable to afford heavy taxes and abandoning the tea hills.”

Zhu Guoxiang only knew this about Song Cha, after all, he was not a professional.

In fact, there are more detailed differences, such as pinching with fingernails when picking steamed tea, and breaking with fingers when picking fried tea.

The top tea leaves in the Song Dynasty must be picked before the sun rises.

After the sun rises to nine o'clock, the later the time, the lower the quality of the tea.Tea leaves picked at eight or nine o'clock can only be used to make cheap loose tea, and cannot enter the teacups of rich people at all.

Therefore, tea picking should be done one by one according to the time.

Before the sun rises, quickly pick the best tea buds.The second pick is slightly inferior, and it can also be made into medium and high-grade tea.The third group picked the least, made loose tea and sold it to the common people.

Zhu Ming had an idea in his heart that there might be quite a few deserted tea hills in the Hanshui River Basin.

When I have a firm foothold and have money and connections, I can occupy those unowned tea mountains.Then, research out the technique of frying tea, not to mention replacing high-grade tea, at least it can conquer the loose tea market.

"Dean Zhu, do you know how to fry tea?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head: "I don't understand."

Zhu Ming said: "I have only watched tea-frying videos, which were posted by Internet celebrities. I still remember the general process, but I don't know the secret at all. I don't know the ingredients, heat, time, etc. I have to figure it out on my own. "

"Let's plant the land first," Zhu Guoxiang said. "Even if we have tea mountains, there are not so many tea workers. The population in the mountainous areas is too small."

Zhu Ming said: "There were people in Shaanxi due to the war, and a large number of people fled to the Hanzhong area. It's a pity that we have to wait for too long, and there are still more than ten years. It's better if we innovate agriculture and increase food production to increase the population."

Since it was decided to use Hanzhong as a base, tea must be taken seriously.

This thing is a strategic material, not only can get sufficient funds, but also can be used to exchange war horses with ethnic minorities.

(End of this chapter)