Chapter 72 The Development of Tea Blends in Liyang - New Product Development...
"You eat, I've already eaten at home," the man said with a smile.
Hearing this, Li Yang started eating without a care in the world. She had left home before dawn this morning and hadn't had a meal, so she was starving by now.
Seeing her wolfing down her food, Chen Junbo lowered his head and smiled faintly, then went to boil water and make tea.
It was late noon, and the sun's shadow was just beginning to fall. Even the cicadas' chirping sounded languid.
"Your tea is quite rare."
After just one sip, he found the tea to be excellent and couldn't help but praise it.
Um?
Li Yang had just finished eating a chicken leg when she heard this. Looking closely, she realized it was the leftover tea she had gathered together earlier, which she was planning to throw away. That's the situation, but it's not quite right to put it that way.
She decided to play dumb. "What's wrong?"
As he spoke, he tried to appear realistic, pretending to be ignorant as he poured himself a cup.
As soon as the tea is poured into the cup, a wonderful aroma fills the nose. It is the aroma of Yunwu tea, but this aroma is also mixed with a faint grassy scent, so it is impossible to identify the source of the aroma.
Li Yang's eyes widened in surprise. This tea...
She immediately became interested, and then she saw that the tea soup was clear and golden in color. One sip made her mouth water.
After taking only a sip, her eyes lit up, and she looked up at Chen Junbai. He raised an eyebrow, as if he had expected her reaction, and said, "This tea is wonderful in color, aroma, and taste. What do you think?"
Li Yang suddenly felt a breakthrough in his mind.
Isn't this just the same method I use when making wontons, where I mix in all sorts of delicacies from the mountains?
By incorporating the umami flavors of various mountain delicacies, one can create wonton fillings that are unique and distinctive. Furthermore, by mixing in the color, aroma, and flavor of various teas, one can cook up a unique tea flavor.
She didn't have time to answer Chen Junbo, but hurriedly cleared the plates from the table and spread out a blank sheet of Xuan paper.
After a moment's thought, I began to draw up the form, following the example of Lu Jie's.
Tea A, Tea B, Tea C, etc... liquor color, aroma, leaf unfolding, aftertaste...
With everything arranged properly, she went to rummage through the basket for tea bags. Lu Jie had left her quite a few tea bags that day, and now they would come in handy.
"This form is quite good." Seeing her busy, Chen Junbo got up and walked to her side, peeking over to take a look. The lines were straight and neat, and everything was in good order.
"Yes, using a form like this to record the results of each tea tasting is clear and concise."
Li Yang answered his question amidst his busy work, and upon seeing this, Chen Junbo nodded repeatedly, "Indeed."
"Yeah, it's Lu Jie's method that taught me. It's much more useful than the notes I wrote down myself."
Hearing this, Chen Junbo frowned. Why were there foreigners everywhere? His dark gaze swept over the paper again, examining it closely. This form was nothing special. But since it was drawn by Li Yang, he couldn't say anything, only letting out a dismissive "humph."
Upon looking up and seeing his gloomy face, Li Yang immediately abandoned the idea of asking him to help with the tea tasting and began to mix the tea leaves by himself.
Following the previously copied form, she selected teas that scored full marks for aroma, tea liquor, taste, and aftertaste. Then, she used a small spoon to measure the quantities of each tea and placed them in different boxes on the new form.
"What are you doing?" Chen Junbai regained his composure in an instant, unwilling to be ignored, though his voice was inevitably cold.
Li Yang didn't even look up. "When I was making wontons, I tried the proportions one by one to find the best ones."
Hearing this, Chen Junbo nodded and took the small spoon from her hand. "I'll do it." Seeing Li Yang's stunned expression, he added, "Just tell me how to mix the ingredients, I'll do it, you can rest."
Li Yang handed over the small spoon in his hand to Chen Junbo to fetch tea and prepare it, then stood up and stretched his back.
Where to?
The man was not staring at the tea leaves, but he was observing her every move out of the corner of his eye.
"I've been standing for a while, but I've been sitting all morning."
Hearing this, Chen Junbo glanced at her before turning back to continue his work.
The two of them didn't have a moment's rest all afternoon in that small pavilion.
There are dozens of combinations of seven or eight kinds of tea, mixed in pairs or groups of three. I spent an entire afternoon just boiling water and brewing tea, and I still hadn't tried half of the recipes.
Fortunately, they had the table drawn by Li Yang; otherwise, after an afternoon of work, the two of them would have been completely confused and unable to figure out which recipe was better.
"I really owe it all to Lu Jie for teaching me this method," Li Yang blurted out.
Chen Junbo's face turned cold. That guy named Lu Jie is gone, but why is he still haunting us? Foreigners are really annoying.
The two of them felt that the progress was too slow by evening. At Li Yang's suggestion, they called Zhong Qian and several waiters the next day, and Xiao Lu also volunteered.
Brother Jia and Brother Yi are in charge of boiling water, one pot each of spring water, well water, and river water. The two of them need to make sure that the pots are never empty.
Then Zhong Qian and Xiao Lu were responsible for weighing and mixing the various teas. The mixing was not difficult; they could simply add or subtract ingredients according to Li Yang's idea.
Xiao Lu has been dealing with tea since childhood. Although she hasn't learned anything else, she is very skilled at judging the weight of tea leaves, and can easily handle a handful with a fine touch.
At first, Zhong Qian was still a little uneasy. He weighed it several times and found that the weight was just right, so he was impressed.
The two then each got busy at their own stalls.
Chen Junbo accompanied Li Yang to brew and taste tea, and then rinsed his mouth after logging into the table.
In this way, the group divided the work and cooperated efficiently, which greatly increased their efficiency. They finished testing all the proportions in just a quarter of an hour.
"Phew..." Li Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Just testing these proportions and registering them had taken almost two days. She looked up at the man standing beside her. It was rare that he hadn't gone out on official business for two days and had been keeping her company in this pavilion, dealing with tea leaves.
"Finally, the registration is finished." As she spoke, she picked up the paper with the form drawn on it from the table, pinched one corner with each hand, and lifted it high so that the whole paper could be lifted up.
Chen Junbo's hands passed through her from behind, not to take the paper, but to tighten around her waist... This person... The two were pressed close together, and the man's body behind her felt like a branding iron; she instinctively felt her entire back burning.
He shifted uncomfortably, and then hissed, "Don't move."
Upon hearing this, Li Yang dared not move, stiffening in his arms. Chen Junbo rested his head on top of hers, wrapped his arms around her waist, and sighed, "I'll just hug you. These past two days, nine out of ten of the things you've said to me have been about tea, and the rest were about getting me to register."
Is he complaining?
Li Yang knew she had been giving him a lot of orders these past few days, and now that she had some free time, she belatedly felt guilty. She lowered the form in her hand and placed it on the table, then placed her hands on the back of his hands, and after a long while said, "Thank you."
Thanks?
Chen Junbo wasn't very satisfied with that statement. He turned his head, lowered his neck, and lightly bit her neck. "You really have no conscience."
"How am I heartless?" Li Yang shoved his large hands away, turned around defiantly, took two steps back, and loudly questioned, "I thanked you, how am I heartless?"
Seeing her like this, Chen Junbo chuckled, then said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "Yes, yes, you're not heartless, I misspoke." You just don't have a heart.
As he spoke, he sat down on the stone stool, gently pulled her wrist and drew her into his lap, stroking her hair with one hand and sighing, "Zhaozhao, when will you grow up?"
How come she's still acting like she hasn't grown up... Li Yang frowned and glanced at him sideways. This man was saying strange things all day. If it weren't broad daylight, she would really think he was drunk.
"Let me go." She struggled to get down again, and the way she struggled was like that of a fish out of water.
Chen Junbo was dissatisfied, but he also loosened his shackles.
"It's so hot! Why are we sticking together like this on such a hot day?" she said, fanning herself with her small, fair hands.
Upon closer inspection, a thin layer of sweat had appeared on her fair neck, perhaps from the heat, as the base of her neck was slightly red. Having drunk quite a bit of hot tea, her lips now appeared exceptionally luscious. Although her face was completely unadorned, and even her hair was plain, loosely held in place by only two hairpins, one gold and one silver, she still looked breathtakingly beautiful.
Not to mention, at this moment, the beauty was coquettish, her moist almond eyes glaring at the man with a hint of coquettishness. Her usual brightness suddenly turned into coquettishness, which was completely natural. Chen Junbai was so captivated by her that he lost his mind and fell into the reproachful look in her bright and charming eyes.
The fine beads of sweat on her temples shimmered like crystal pearls in the light and shadow, causing Chen Junbo to involuntarily stand up, step forward and pull her close, lowering his head to touch her smooth forehead, their eyes meeting and their breaths mingling.
Li Yang unconsciously swallowed her saliva. When did this person start to be so persistent in holding her? This was the first time, in broad daylight, in a pavilion with no shelter on all sides, that he was so uninhibited.
She glanced at the left and right sides of the pavilion out of the corner of her eye and murmured softly, "Someone's here."
Upon hearing this, Chen Junbo noticed her eyes darting left and right, and stopped teasing her. He chuckled and gave her a light peck on the cheek before offering his hand. His chest heaved for a few breaths before calming down.
For a moment, the two people in the pavilion were panting, and an awkward feeling arose spontaneously.
"Is the tea tasting complete?"
He still has to come up with the topics...
"Oh, no, we still need to see the results of each score before we can determine which group of tea is the best." Li Yang hurriedly smoothed out the form that was drooping on the table.
The two men took turns calculating the scores, and the scores for three groups of teas were so close that it was difficult to determine which was better.
Longjing, Yunwu, and Maojian are grouped together;
Longjing, Maojian, and Kuizhen are grouped into two categories;
Pearl Orchid, Longjing Tea, and Kuizhen Tea are the three groups;
Each of these three tea blends has its own strengths; some are more fragrant, while others produce a clearer tea liquor.
Unable to make up her mind, she summoned everyone in the hexagonal pavilion and had them taste the three sets of tea and then give their opinions.
Surprisingly, of the five people, only Xiao Lu said she couldn't taste the difference; Zhong Qian and Jia Ge both chose Group Two, while Fang Yuan and Yi Ge preferred Group Three.
Now, Li Yang was really in a dilemma. She couldn't help but look at Chen Junbo, as if waiting for him to come up with an idea.
Chen Junbai knew that Li Yang had been busy these past few days because Zi Yan had said that the tea at the Flower Bureau was not good. He couldn't disagree with that, but the three sets of teas selected in the past two days were excellent in color, aroma, and taste.
"Do as you please."
Li Yang hesitated, wondering if he was just being perfunctory. Things had come to this point; was he really going to just swallow it whole like that? Was this method too brutal?
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