Tea Merchants of the Song Dynasty

"Hey, kid." Jiang Si Niang scolded with a smile, "Okay, you are good at making tea, why don't you try Huangshan Maofeng?"

Jiang Yin narrowed her eyes and smiled, tied her apron on, and pushed Jiang Si Niang out the door.

"Fourth Sister, please go quickly. Your uncle misses you so much and talks about you every day."

Although she decided to go to Huizhou immediately at the last minute, Fang Wenyuan had already given her the letter and asked her to bring it over.

Watching Si Niang go back to the room to read the letter, Jiang Yin turned around and came to the stove.

When Si Niang came, she brought two helpers with her. They were both good at frying tea like Si Niang.

At this time, the two of them were frying tea in front of the stove.

"Homeowner"

"Homeowner"

The two stopped what they were doing and called Jiang Yin.

Jiang Yin waved his hand and said, "You guys continue, don't worry about me."

She first looked at the tea that had been fried next to her, and asked Xiao Luo to make a pot of tea.

She wanted to try the Huangshan Maofeng tea that was stir-fried using the same method as Mengshan tea and see what it tasted like.

At the same time, she also started to roast tea herself.

According to Si Niang, she is now not only roasting the tea produced in the tea garden she has leased, but also roasting the fresh leaves she has purchased.

After taking over the tea garden, Si Niang spread the word that she would purchase fresh leaves.

As for the price of fresh leaves, as long as they meet the standards, she will price them according to the roasted Huangshan Maofeng.

Generally, the fried Huangshan Maofeng has a poor taste and is not expensive. Therefore, even if the fresh leaves are purchased at the price of tea, it will not be too expensive.

The picking period of Huangshan Maofeng is from around Qingming Festival to before the beginning of summer.

Generally speaking, the Huangshan Maofeng tea harvested around Qingming Festival is of better quality, and the picking standard is one bud and one leaf just beginning to unfold.

This type of high-quality Maofeng tea has an excellent growing environment with fertile soil, suitable temperature, abundant rainfall, as well as high mountains and deep valleys, steep rock walls, long flowing streams, and tea trees shrouded in clouds and mist all day long.

The tea is picked around the Qingming Festival, when the buds are just beginning to emerge, the buds are strong and have abundant silver hairs, the color is more emerald green with golden fish leaves, and it is the best batch of tea.

The next grade ones are harvested around the time of Grain Rain, and the picking standard is one bud and one leaf or one bud and two leaves beginning to unfold.

The second best time is to harvest it around the time of Grain Rain, and the picking standard is one bud and two leaves or one bud and three leaves that are just beginning to unfold.

The fresh leaves picked need to be strictly selected, and the old leaves and stems must be removed before processing.

Of course, these are the characteristics of Huangshan Maofeng, and Jiang Si Niang did not change anything. Instead, she only adopted the method of Mengshan tea in the frying method.

Jiang Yin was frying tea while thinking. She didn't really understand why a good tea like Huangshan Maofeng was buried.

Or is it that there are too many excellent varieties of tea in Huizhou, making Huangshan Maofeng dispensable?

Or maybe there are too few people growing it and not enough people cooking it well, so it is not well known.

But Huizhou tea is no worse than Mengshan tea. With so many people, is there no one who can improve the tea-making technique and make Huangshan Maofeng taste better?

Jiang Yin couldn't figure out the reason for the moment, so he could only speed up his movements and stir-fry the tea first.

She thought that using the method of roasting Mengshan tea would definitely make the taste of Huangshan Maofeng even better.

But when she took a sip of the tea brewed by Xiao Luo, she retracted her previous thoughts.

She pursed her lips and asked Xiao Luo, "Are you using the tea that Si Niang just brewed?"

This shouldn't be the case. Not only does it taste inferior to Mengshan tea, but it also loses the unique taste of Huangshan Maofeng.

Xiao Luo nodded and said, "Yes, madam. I asked the four great ladies and they said it was the new tea that was roasted in the warehouse a few days ago."

She paused and added, "The fourth lady said that this tea was roasted according to the roasting method of Mengshan tea, and the taste is like this. Although it is not as good as Mengshan tea, it can also be reported to the Tea and Horse Bureau."

It is just right to make the fake look real and not let people notice it is Huangshan Maofeng.

Jiang Yin pondered for a moment, then said: "Make two more pots, one with the roasted tea collected, and one with the roasted tea today.

After soaking, put it in the yard, and I will come out after killing the green tea."

She had never encountered such a situation before and really didn't know what was going on.

Xiao Luo responded and went out, and Jiang Yin, after completing the second step, went out to the yard.

Jiang Si Niang also finished reading the letter, wiped the tears from her eyes and walked out of the house. She sat on the stone bench in the yard with Jiang Yin and tasted the freshly brewed tea.

After such a comparison, Jiang Yin actually felt that the Huangshan Maofeng tea, which he had previously thought was crudely made, actually tasted better.

Huangshan Maofeng, which is roasted using the same method as Mengshan tea, tastes more similar to Mengshan tea, but can only be compared with inferior Mengshan tea.

Jiang Yin frowned slightly and said, "Fourth Lady, do you know why? Why can't the roasting method of our Mengshan tea be used on Huangshan Maofeng?"

Is she too confident about Mengshan tea, or does she have too big fantasies about Huangshan Maofeng?

In short, this was different from what she had originally imagined.

Jiang Si Niang shook her head and said, "We have tried many methods, but none of them can improve its taste. Even using the original method of making Huangshan Maofeng, improving and finely stir-frying it, still cannot improve the taste."

She pinched her brows, then relaxed them, and said with a sigh, "But it's good this way, so I can report to the Tea and Horse Department without attracting too much attention.

But, Yin, I'm afraid your plan will fail. Huangshan Maofeng is a difficult tea to serve."

No wonder among so many famous teas in Huizhou, Huangshan Maofeng is not one of them. It turns out that it is so difficult to roast.

Jiang Yin spread his hands, smiled helplessly and said: "I didn't expect this to happen, but there will always be a way out when the car reaches the mountain.

After we finish roasting the new tea, we will think about whether there is any way to improve the taste of Huangshan Maofeng. "

She sighed again. It seemed that Huangshan Maofeng could not be fried into the style of Mengshan tea. It had to follow the original path of Huangshan Maofeng.

As for how to improve it, we still have to think of a solution.

Huangshan Maofeng is both a difficulty and an opportunity. The current situation allows her to purchase tea gardens at a low price.

Afterwards, if she could really improve the taste of Huangshan Maofeng, her Jiang family would be able to grow even stronger.

By then, even if Mengshan was taken back by the court, she would still have a way out.

Thinking of the news she had heard earlier, she raised her eyes and said, "Fourth Lady, do you know the current situation in Huizhou? I heard that the government sent an inspector to Huizhou to implement the tea monopoly system."

Nowadays, Mengshan tea has been completely monopolized by the government. If it is promoted in Huizhou, it will surely be completely monopolized by the government as well.

Jiang Si Niang nodded and said, "I have heard about this matter, but if nothing unexpected happens, it should not affect Huangshan Maofeng."

After all, there are better options, so why focus on this kind of loose tea?

Jiang Yin agreed, "Then we have to speed up. In addition to buying tea gardens, we also have to improve the tea-making techniques of Huangshan Maofeng. Leave some fresh leaves in this tea garden and don't use them all up."