"The rules for the first round are: one person brews the tea, one dou for the tea soup, and two dou for the remaining tea. Everyone, please take your seats."
As soon as he finished speaking, thirteen pretty women came out carrying tea sets. They placed the thirteen sets of tea sets on the table one by one and also put cushions on them.
The thirteen women all wore pink satin skirts embroidered with butterflies, with silk ribbons tied around their waists and their hair styled in high buns. Each of them was ethereal and beautiful. They wore no jewelry, only a peony pinned on the side of their buns.
They came and went gracefully.
The nobles used more tea sets for tea competitions, including cups, bottles, whisks, grinders, baskets, ladles, washbasins, pots, spoons, and kettles. This was unlike the common people, who mainly used cups, bottles, and whisks.
It took an incense stick of time just to set up the tea set.
Participants in the tea-tea competition sat down wherever they pleased, while spectators stood behind the contestants. Only four judges sat on the imperial chairs in the hall.
After sitting down, Yu Rou saw everyone taking out a bamboo water bottle and teacup.
She had originally thought that high-quality tea cakes and spring water would be provided here, so she didn't bring anything else. Now, seeing that others even brought teacups, she couldn't help but frown.
However, this did not affect her. She tidied up the table and started to boil water.
After boiling the water, start warming the cup.
She was about to pick up the ordinary teacups provided by the teahouse, but suddenly a hand stretched out in front of her and placed a set of rabbit-hair teacups with black and green glaze on her table.
"This is something my master asked me to give to you." The man in black clothes said in a low voice, then stood up and left.
The glaze of this tea cup has rabbit-hair stripes, so it is called a rabbit-hair cup. There are radial stripes on the bottom of the cup, and the silver light flashes, which is very beautiful. Especially when using this tea cup to boil tea, the tea soup and the tea cup will complement each other in black and white, and the white foam on the tea surface will look even better.
In fact, in addition to this kind of tea cup, there are also tea cups with partridge spots, pearl spots and sun spots, which are most suitable for tea competitions. Once the tea soup enters the cup, it can emit colorful dots of light.
Most of them use these types of tea cups.
Yu Rou thought about it, but couldn't guess who the master the man was talking about. She picked up the teacup and washed it with freshly boiled water. Only after the boiling water washed the teacup very clean did she feel at ease to use it.
…
The cup is hot; if it is cooled, the tea will not float. A hot cup makes it difficult for the tea to cool, and if it is difficult to cool, the tea flavor remains unchanged. The most important factor in evaluating a person's tea making skills is whether they can warm the cup.
The thirteen people participating in the tea competition were all concentrating on warming their cups, and no one forgot this step.
The next step is to prepare the paste, and finally boil water to cook it. Everyone’s previous actions are almost the same, and the most important step is here.
Yu Rou expected that in this first round of tea tasting, not many people would be eliminated. Everyone used good tea and good water, so it would all depend on the quality of the teacups they used, as well as their understanding of the nature of the tea and the quality of the water.
In tea-fighting competitions, fresh tea is valued, and fresh water is valued. However, the water and tea are the same, and the winner depends on more advanced skills.
Soon, I could smell the fragrance of tea.
The young servant in green clothes said, "First, let's compete on the color of the tea. See if the tea soup is bright white. The one with pure white tea wins, while the one with bluish white, grayish white, or yellowish white tea loses."
If the tea soup is pure white, it means that the tea leaves are plump and tender and are made just right; if it is greenish, it means that the steaming temperature is insufficient; if it is grayish, it means that the steaming temperature is too high; if it is yellowish, it means that the tea leaves are not picked in time; if it is reddish, it means that the tea is over-roasted.
You can't be careless at all. Even if the tea is good and the water is good, the color of the tea soup will change if you don't pay attention to the heat.
Everyone's eyes were focused on the freshly brewed tea.
Yu Rou took a look at Princess Hening's tea soup and saw that it was bright white in color, with a pure luster and a moderate amount of foam.
Princess Jingning, who was standing by, was obviously very happy and said, "Jinzhu is really amazing."
Yu Rou just smiled without saying anything. It was too early to be happy now. The tea soup of the thirteen people must be pure white. Those who signed up for the tea competition must have good tea making skills, so the possibility of making mistakes in the tea color round was very low.
Several judges came down to check the contestants' tea, but after a while, they heard the servant announce: "No one is eliminated, let's fight again for the water mark."
Upon hearing this, the spectators immediately applauded.
Then, almost simultaneously, the thirteen contestants used tea whisks to rotate, hit, and whisk the tea in the teacup.
It’s just that everyone has different habits, so there are slight differences in the movements.
Suddenly someone shouted: "The cup is bitten, the cup is bitten!"
There was surprise in his voice.
Yu Ting couldn't help herself any longer. She didn't understand what these people were talking about, such as tea color, water marks, and bite the cup. She muttered softly, "Sister Rou, what does bite the cup mean?"
"You don't even know this, and you're still coming to a tea party? How ridiculous." He Yulian, who had somehow overheard their conversation, sarcastically said, "The tea foam clings to the rim of the teacup, lingering for a long time. It's called 'cup-biting'."
After saying that, He Yulian looked at Yu Rou provocatively again, the teasing and mocking meaning in her look was self-evident.
He Yulian did not participate in the competition, but stood behind Yan Wanyun. She probably had no confidence in her tea art. But when she saw that Yu Rou also participated, she was very upset and regretted not participating. She thought that Yu Rou must be trying to show off. After all, she would not be criticized if she lost in tea art. Instead, she would show her weakness and lose to Yu Rou.
"Mrs. He is truly knowledgeable. Could you explain to me which tea-brewing skills are tested by the "biting the teacup" technique? How do water marks form? And why are rabbit-hair teacups and oil-drip teacups so popular in tea competitions?"
The series of questions seemed simple, but they actually contained deep meanings and hit the nail on the head. If one was not knowledgeable about tea fighting, one would definitely not be able to answer these questions, and Yu Rou had calculated that He Yulian would not be able to answer them.
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