Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In addition to his status as a famous scholar, Chen Yuan was first of all a young man, and he was known for his poetic talent throughout his life.

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

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."

Chen Yuan was stumped during the first session of tea tasting.

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 bluish 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 yellow-white, which is the worst kind of tea.

The tea brewed by Zhu Guoxiang in front of him was greenish-green with a hint of amber yellow. This has gone beyond the scope of tea fighting, and is more like light green loose tea (steamed green) tea soup. According to the rules, it is not qualified to be tasted by refined people.

Zhu Guoxiang continued to make chicken soup: "Young gentleman is very fragrant. Your Excellency has seen his appearance. Please smell his fragrance again."

"I've already smelled it," Chen Yuan said after tasting it. "The fragrance of Tuan tea is thick and thick, just like that of a wealthy person. This tea has a clear fragrance, 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 astringency, the tea can only be soaked in water, squeezed juice, etc., which causes the tea to lose too many active ingredients, thus greatly reducing the aroma and taste. Then you have to make tea paste to enhance the aroma and taste of the tea, and in the end bring back the green and stuffy smell 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 smoothness 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 non-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", which describes the mountain monk entertaining him to drink tea, which shows that the tea-frying technology existed in the Tang Dynasty.

But in the poem, when the mountain monk makes tea, he not only needs to fry it, but also fry it. It is likely that the tea is fried first, then fried like medicine, thrown in a bunch of onions, ginger and garlic, and finally drank the decoction. This way of drinking is different from the Song Dynasty and also 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: "When the tea soup is stirred, the soup surface is magnificent and complex, like a mansion. But the tea soup noodles are ordinary, like a hut in an 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 sweetness aftertaste is slow and long. Although it is indifferent, it does not lose its original taste. The Master said, a basket of food and a ladle of drink, people in the back alleys cannot bear the worry, and return 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.

When the tea cooled down a bit, Zheng Hong took a sip and screamed that he had been fooled. He prefers to drink Tuancha. Although the astringency is stronger, it is packed with spices and is sweet, mellow, smooth and refreshing. It is much more delicious 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: "It's really good tea!"

Ju Ming asked again: "What's the best 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 immediately laughed.

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, 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 take advantage of the Zheng family. The grade will be comparable to Tuancha."

This is so damn dark!

The process of making Tuancha is extremely complex and time-consuming, and the selection of tea buds is even more stringent. The production cost of one pound of Tuancha is equivalent to at least five or six pounds of fried tea, yet 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 common people at the bottom. But it doesn't matter if it's made into fried tea, the taste is just a little bit worse, and it can be sold at a lower price compared to other group teas.

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 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 pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Min Wenwei was the first to write down his comments on 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. More people must enjoy it."

Finally, the paper and pen were passed to Ju Ming.

Ju 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 cut is called "tea interest", that is, 20% tax will be levied on the tea when it leaves the factory.

If you take it to other places for sale, there will be checkpoints along the way, and you will be charged a tax once you pass each checkpoint. If you sell locally, in addition to paying store tax, you also have to pay a purchase price.

Loose tea is allowed to be sold by itself without going through a tea master. Although it can only be sold locally and has 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 into 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 asked with half-belief and doubt, "Is this tea really that good?"

Zheng Hong said: "I haven't tasted it, 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 the servant to boil water again and asked: "Break it like loose tea?"

"Just brew it." Zheng Hong said.

After 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 flavor. 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, but this tea doesn't have much flavor."

"You know nothing about cows chewing peonies," Zheng Lan scolded and said, "I keep 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 also a great 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, and both of them admire 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 has been roughly negotiated, and we will sell it 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: "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 overjoyed 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 high-end gifts.

Min Wenwei and Chen Yuan endorsed it, and it was made by the father of the Eighth Line Scholars. The tea maker also had a very good personal relationship with Lu Tixue, and there was no gentlemanly character involved. Moreover, the output this year was small, and it already had the luxury of being a luxury product. All elements.

Even a piece of shit can be sold for the price of gold!