Chapter 148 Tea making
The sharp shovel flipped the soft soil, and Zhang Zong quickly turned over half of the vegetable field. Wan'er put on a plain skirt and her long hair was wrapped in a handkerchief. She helped Zhang Zong pick up the weeds in the soil and pile it on the ground. She would burn it with a fire later, so that we would not grow any more weeds in the field.
After turning over the vegetable field, Zhang Zong was so tired that he was sweating profusely. Wan'er also gave him tea with great care. He also helped Zhang Zong wipe away the sweat from his forehead while Zhang Zong was drinking tea. This made Zhang Zong feel moved, and he seemed to be increasingly inseparable from Wan'er.
After resting for a while, Zhang Zong took out the two packets of seeds, and then planted the two seeds with Wan'er. The packets of seeds are turnips and syrup. Turnips are rare in later generations. They look more like a radish with a ball, and syrup is actually a small cabbage. It is said that cabbage is made of these two vegetables.
"Young Master, after these two kinds of vegetables are hybridized, can you really cultivate the kind of cabbage you mentioned?" After planting, Wan'er also asked Zhang Zong curiously. She had followed Zhang Zong for so long and had learned a lot of knowledge from Zhang Zong. It can even be said that she was the one who truly received the true teachings of Zhang Zong.
"I'm not sure, but I have to give it a try." Zhang Zong said with a smile. He also heard from later generations that cabbage was a hybrid of these two vegetables. He was not sure whether it could work or not.
"Brother Shi! Where are you?" At this moment, Xue Shao's cry suddenly came from the front yard, which made Zhang Zong agree immediately, and then took Wan'er to the front yard. Xue Shao was parked a car in the yard, and the servant he sent was driven out by him.
"Brother Shi, the fresh tea you want is delivered to you. Are you planning to cook something new?" Xue Shao immediately asked Zhang Zong excitedly when he saw Zhang Zong. Two days ago, Zhang Zong asked him for newly picked tea. Although the tea was for drinking, he immediately thought that this might be used by Zhang Zong to cook, so he was very excited to deliver it.
"Although tea can be cooked, these are not used for cooking!" Zhang Zong said with a smile, and then he turned on the mask on the car to reveal baskets of green fresh tea leaves. These are the new teas that have just grown this year and can be used to make fried tea. After all, Liu Rengui is still waiting to taste the taste of fried tea.
"What are you doing if you don't cook? Brother Shi, are you planning to steam tea by yourself? That's very troublesome?" Xue Shao couldn't help but ask in surprise when he heard Zhang Zong's words. He had a tea garden at home and had also seen the process of craftsmen making tea. A basket of tea leaves made a piece of tea cake, and the process was very complicated, so he couldn't even remember the basic steps.
"It's not steaming tea, it's stir-frying tea!" Zhang Zong explained with a smile, and then he asked Wan'er to prepare a stove and a small wok, but the temperature of the stove could not be too high, so the wok stand was also relatively high.
"Fried tea? Can tea be fried?" Xue Shao was even more surprised, but since Zhang Zong said he could be fried, he quickly dispelled his doubts and helped prepare together.
Zhang Zong liked to travel around in his previous life. He had been to Wuyi Mountain and had seen local tea farmers use artificial tea to stir-fry. However, the fried tea is very professional. It is a special three-continuous stove, which means there are three pots on one stove. The temperature of each pot is different, which corresponds to the three steps of stir-frying tea, namely, finishing, rolling and drying.
Of course, if it is just these three basic processes, the most common green tea is fried. If you want to make black tea or black tea, you need to add fermentation steps. Zhang Zong only likes to drink green tea and does not know much about tea fermentation, so he decided to start with the simplest green tea. As for fermentation tea, you can leave it to others to improve it.
Soon the pot was heated. Zhang Zong grabbed two handfuls of tea leaves and put them in the pot. Then he followed the appearance of a tea farmer in his later generations and fryed the tea leaves with his hands. As a result, he was quickly burned and sucked in cold air. Fortunately, Wan'er was clever and immediately brought him a pair of gloves. Although it was still very hot, it was at least tolerated.
However, the first pot of tea was soon fried because the temperature of the pot was still too high and Zhang Zong was not stir-frying fast enough. He had no choice but to pour it out and stir-fry again. Anyway, there was a car of tea for him to experiment.
After repeated experiments, Zhang Zong finally mastered the trick. By adjusting the height of the iron pot, he could also control the temperature in the pot, which quickly completed three processes. In the end, the green tea leaves turned into green-brown tea leaves, which was very similar to the green tea that Zhang Zong often drank in later generations, and smelled with a strong tea aroma.
"It really tastes like tea, but is this kind of tea really delicious?" Xue Shao leaned forward and sniffed, then said with some doubt. After all, what he saw were the steamed tea cakes, and it was the first time he had seen loose tea leaves like this.
"You'll know if you try it!" Zhang Zong said, rubbing his red palms. Even with his gloves, his hands were red and red. Now they were a little numb, so let's take a break and continue the next big business of stir-frying tea.
Wan'er also cooked the hot water well. Zhang Zong fryed the tea leaves with his own hands and put them in three cups, then brewed them with hot water. As the tea leaves slowly unfolded in the hot water, the tea also turned into a familiar emerald green, just like the essence of the tea leaves was integrated into the tea.
Zhang Zong was the first to pick up the tea cup, then blew the tea leaves on the surface, and then sipped it gently. Although the mouth was slightly bitter, it would soon feel a sweet feeling. This made a familiar taste make Zhang Zong breathe comfortably and his eyes narrowed slightly.
"It's really so delicious?" Xue Shao was also very surprised to see Zhang Zong's expression. He picked up the teacup and took a big sip. As soon as the tea was in his mouth, he grinned and shouted, "It's so bitter!"
Compared to the rash Xue Shao, Wan'er is much more elegant. She also carefully sipped by Zhang Zong. It was indeed a bit bitter at first, but then she felt the sweetness in the tea. Moreover, this feeling of bitterness at first and sweetness at the end makes people feel a long aftertaste, which is a different taste than the tea I used to drink.
"The aroma is elegant and fresh, the taste is fresh and mellow. The young master's fried tea is indeed endless!" Wan'er immediately praised.
Chapter completed!