Chapter 62, Inn No. 62: Making Tea and Milk Tea
Xia Yan looked up at her and asked, "What kind of deal does Lady Yun want with me?"
"I see you really like the milk pastries I make, and I'd like to trade with you," Yunyin said, looking at her. "I'll teach Wanleqiao how to make these pastries, and in return, you'll send me a few buckets of fresh milk every day. You seem to have an easy time getting fresh milk; I wonder if you'd be interested in this deal?"
Xia Yan sat up straight and said, "I really like the pastries you make. Fresh milk doesn't take much effort for me either. How about this, I'll give you a milk cow later. I hope Lady Yun can make more delicious pastries."
Yunyin nodded and said, "Alright, I will return the cow to you in a year. Now, Madam Wan, come to the kitchen with me, and I will teach you how to make these desserts."
She took Wan Leqiao back to the kitchen, and Xia Yan sat back in her chair, tilting her head to look at the gardenias swaying in the wind in the yard. She thought it wouldn't be bad to come here for a meal once in a while.
The inn was in good order. Cheng Yong was sitting at the counter drinking tea, Zhang Lin and Ma Hao were guarding the food stall in front, Feng Hai was squatting in front of a basket of ingredients with a frown, Zheng Guilan was cleaning the side rooms, and Fang He was still practicing carving diligently.
Fu Wang, walking silently on the other side of the road, sighed from time to time, which made Wang Shitou look at him frequently. When he saw Fu Wang sigh again, he asked, "Boss, what are you doing? Why are you sighing?"
Fu Wang glanced at him but didn't speak. He sat on his horse, gazing into the distance, lost in thought. Wang Shitou, not getting a response, looked up and asked, "By the way, what was that thing you put in the carriage earlier? What delicious food did Lady Yun give you?"
Upon hearing this, Fu Wang stopped being stunned and stared at Wang Shitou warily, saying, "Don't you dare touch my things. If I find out, you'll regret it."
Wang Shitou shuddered. "Boss, I was just asking, what's all this about?" Seeing Fu Wang glaring at him, he quickly said, "Fine, fine, I won't touch it anymore. Honestly, it's just that Lady Yun gave you some delicious food. Do you think I can't smell it? My nose is very sensitive."
He muttered to himself, "Yun Niangzi brought you food, but she didn't even share any with us. How stingy!"
Fu Wang and his group headed west. Time passed quickly, and before he even reached Chang'an, he had finished the snacks Yunyin had given him. Looking at the empty food box, he sighed and said, "From now on, I'll leave the escorting business to Cheng Yong and the others."
At the inn, Yunyin obtained a milking cow from Xia Xiaoniangzi and milked it every morning. With the milk, she made a lot of caramel pudding and double-skin milk every day. Huo Yu liked these desserts very much and brought his son over every day to eat her cooking.
He scooped up a spoonful of chilled double-skin milk pudding, squinted his eyes, and said, "This dessert is really delicious. I feel like I've wasted my life if I don't eat a bowl of it every day."
Seeing that Huo Yu liked it, Yun Yin smiled and said, "It's good that you like it, Mr. Huo. I'm planning to make some other pastries soon. You can come over often when you have time."
Huo Yu: "I have to eat here every day, and if it gets too late, I have to stay here overnight. I spend very little time at home each day. If this continues, my wife will get angry."
Yunyin: "You can bring your wife, or your son, so the whole family can be together."
After pondering for a moment, Huo Yu said, "Alright, I'll talk to her about it, but she just doesn't want to move. She says she's busy with a lot of things every day and doesn't want to come out with me. I'll talk to her again and tell her that those things can be left to the servants."
After speaking with Huo Yu, Yunyin returned to the kitchen to stir-fry tea leaves. Ever since she had fresh milk, Yunyin had been craving her usual milk tea. She hadn't had it for a long time because she needed to maintain her figure, and now she truly missed it. She hadn't been able to make it before due to a lack of milk, but now, with the milk provided by Xia Xiaoniangzi, she could finally make some milk tea.
She didn't have much tea left from the spring tea she bought, but luckily Yunyin found a few wild tea trees in the mountains behind her, and she could still pick some tea leaves, which she could then process.
The tea sold in Dazhao Market is all steamed, perhaps because iron pots are not commonly used. She didn't see anyone using roasted tea leaves. Yunyin herself drinks tea that was roasted before, and there isn't much left. Since the weather is nice today, she might as well roast some tea to make milk tea.
August tea leaves are not as good as those from around Qingming Festival, but when making milk tea, the quality of the tea leaves doesn't matter. Just enjoy the flavor. The iron wok used for frying the tea must be completely free of oil fumes. Yunyin even bought a new iron wok specifically for frying tea. Fortunately, she had paid off her debt by selling mooncakes, so she doesn't have to worry about buying another wok now.
Once the iron wok is hot, pour the dried tea leaves into it and toss them with your hands to kill the green color. When the leaves turn a deep green and curl up, the first step is complete. Spread them out on a winnowing basket to cool before kneading. Yunyin was kneading the tea leaves in the kitchen when Huo Yu smelled a fragrance and ran out from the main hall to ask, "Yunniangzi, what is this? It smells so good!"
Yunyin: "I'm making tea, so it has a delicate fragrance."
Huo Yu stood in the courtyard and looked through the window at Yun Yin's actions. He asked curiously, "Is Madam Yun steaming tea? It doesn't look quite right."
Yunyin smiled and said, "No, this is tea I'm frying, and it's different from the tea you usually drink."
After kneading the tea leaves, she continued to stir-fry them in the pot over low heat. As she stir-fried them, the aroma of the tea leaves became stronger and stronger. Huo Yu stood in the courtyard, inhaling the fragrance and becoming intoxicated by it. He said, "Does Lady Yun have any tea leaves that you stir-fry? I'd like to try them and see what they taste like."
Yunyin called Zheng Guilan over, "Go and brew Old Master Huo a cup of tea. You know how to brew it, right?"
Zheng Guilan nodded and said, "Don't worry, Lady Yun, I've seen you make it before, I know how."
She turned and went back to the storeroom, took out the tea-making tools, and then took the tea leaves from the shelf behind the counter. She walked into the courtyard, placed the tea set on the stone table, and invited Huo Yu to sit down, saying, "Mr. Huo, please sit down. I'll make you some tea."
Huo Yu sat on the stone bench, and Zheng Guilan quickly set up the tea stove, poured in spring water to boil, poured the boiled water into the teacups, and explained to Huo Yu, "This is called warming the vessel. After that, we rinse the tea, then brew the tea, and then serve the tea."
She poured the water used to brew the tea leaves into a water bowl, then poured in boiling water again. She poured out the brewed tea and gave it to Huo Yu, asking him to taste it. "Elder Huo, please try this tea. Is it to your liking? When Lady Yun invited people to taste it before, apart from Young Master Fu, it seemed that no one else liked it very much."
Huo Yu picked up the teacup and took a sip. The tea was fragrant and slightly bitter, but upon closer tasting, a hint of sweetness could be detected. It was completely different from the boiled tea he usually drank. Boiling tea involved adding salt and seasonings, making it taste like porridge. Yun Niangzi's tea, however, was made without crushing the tea leaves, retaining only the slight bitterness, which resulted in a sweeter aftertaste than boiled tea.
He savored it slowly, nodding occasionally, "It's quite delicious, I like it very much. This roasted tea tastes really good." He looked at Yunyin, who was still roasting tea leaves in the kitchen, and said, "Miss Yun, can I buy some of this tea?"
Yunyin packed up the roasted tea leaves and came out of the kitchen, saying, "These tea leaves are all wild tea leaves. If you like them, I can give you some. They're not worth much money. I'll be happy if you like them."
She wrapped up the remaining tea leaves and gave them to Old Master Huo. Then, she said to Huo Chen, who looked distressed, "Young Master Huo doesn't like this taste. Luckily, I made some milk tea. You can try it; you should like it."
Yunyin asked them to sit for a while, then went back to the kitchen, put the freshly roasted tea leaves into a large bowl, poured in slightly cooled hot water, poured out the brewed tea, added some sugar and stirred, and finally added hot milk. This is milk green tea.
She didn't have fermented tea leaves, so she didn't have black tea and could only use green tea to make milk tea. However, green tea also has a refreshing taste. Yunyin took out the finished milk tea and handed it to them, saying, "Try it."
Huo Chen picked up the teacup and took a sip. The sweet taste instantly won him over. He couldn't help but nod and say, "Miss Yun, this is delicious. It's fragrant and sweet, with no bitterness at all. It's really delicious."
Huo Yu took a sip and nodded, saying, "It's really not bad. I like it more than the brewed tea. Sweet tea is definitely better than salty tea."
Yunyin smiled and said, "Yes, I like it very much too. However, I am not well prepared today. I will make some pearls to add to the milk tea, and it will taste even better. If you are free tomorrow, you can come and try it."
Huo Chen nodded and said, "I'll bring my wife tomorrow; she'll definitely like this milk tea."
"Why don't you take some back to your wife, Mr. Huo? If she likes it, she'll probably come with you." Yunyin said, filling a large cup of milk tea in a bamboo tube and handing it to him. "It's nice to go on an outing once in a while."
After Huo Yu and the others left, Yun Yin returned to the kitchen to make pearls. Pearls are usually made with tapioca flour, but she didn't have any, so she used glutinous rice flour instead. Although glutinous rice flour is not as chewy as tapioca flour, it is still very soft and chewy, just like eating glutinous rice balls, except that there is no filling inside. The small glutinous rice balls are made by directly rolling glutinous rice flour.
At this time, cassava, like potatoes, was still growing quietly in America. If Fu Wang could find chili peppers, he might also be able to find these two foods.
Yunyin made a substitute for tapioca pearls using brown sugar water and glutinous rice flour. She added it to milk tea and tasted it, but found it too sticky and easy to stick to the container. Looking at the failed tapioca pearls, she pondered for a moment and added an appropriate amount of wheat starch to the glutinous rice flour. This time, the cooked tapioca pearls were chewier and less sticky than before. She poured them into the milk tea and tasted them. Although they were still not as good as the tapioca pearls, they were not much different.
Besides milk tea, how can we forget about fruit tea? She had completely forgotten about it before, but now that she remembered, she naturally decided to make some fruit tea to try.
She had already used up the oranges she had bought before, so she recently bought some more. There were also some watermelons left in the field that she hadn't picked yet. She planned to use these two kinds of fruit to make fruit tea.
Pour in the stir-fried tea leaves and jasmine flowers, add hot water to brew the tea, and let it cool in well water. Put the chopped fruit in a bowl and mash it to extract the juice, pour in the cooled tea, add syrup and stir. Yunyin took a sip and found it to be sweet and sour, not bad at all.
It would taste even better with ice. She had already used up the ice that Luo Man had given her before. Ice in the market was too expensive, so she didn't buy any. She planned to store more ice this winter. Her ice cellar was already waiting.
Fortunately, Yunyin Inn is surrounded by mountains and water, and there are many trees. Although it is still hot, it is still bearable. Now that autumn has arrived, it is much cooler than the dog days of summer.
Yunyin walked to the counter with fruit tea and milk tea. "Young Master Cheng, would you like to have one too? Which one would you like?"
Cheng Yong looked at the two drinks, took the milk tea and said, "I'll drink this one." He took a sip and raised his eyebrows slightly. "No wonder Fu Wang was reluctant to leave before. He must have eaten a lot of Yun Niangzi's delicious food during the two months he was here."
Yunyin smiled and said, "Fu Wang has also helped me a lot; he made all that furniture."
Cheng Yong said, "That's all he's capable of."
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