Chapter 62: Osmanthus Tea Hits the Market

Ye Chongming used to adore his lively grandson. But seeing his carefree face now, Ye Chongming couldn’t help but sigh. His grandson was far behind Ming’er in terms of capability.

Ye Jiaxing, unaware of his grandfather’s disappointment and impending stricter discipline, curiously asked, “Grandfather, are we really not going to address the rumors in the city?”

“Do you think we should?” Ye Chongming countered.

“I think we should spread the word about the amount of tea we pre-ordered today. Only the tea merchants present know about it. If they don’t talk, then…”

Ye Jiaxing’s voice trailed off as he noticed his usually kind grandfather looking at him sternly.

“Are you worried about losing face when you go out with friends?” Ye Chongming asked.

Ye Jiaxing was caught off guard by his grandfather’s question and couldn’t deny it. Lying was not allowed in the Ye family. He sheepishly replied, “It’s not just that. It’s mainly about our family’s reputation. Those tea customers gossip all the time, which isn’t good for our business.”

“Didn’t you notice that some customers, out of curiosity, have been coming to our tea house more frequently? And some regular customers, not wanting our business to fail, have been coming daily to support us. The tea house has been busier than ever,” Ye Chongming explained.

“Really?” Ye Jiaxing suddenly realized, “So that’s why? I was wondering.”

Ye Chongming, who used to enjoy teaching his grandson, now closed his eyes and mouth, not wanting to speak further.

Because everyone was paying attention to the Ye family’s situation, the news that they pre-ordered the same amount of tea as previous years quickly spread among those concerned.

Taking advantage of customer support, whether voluntary or not, Ye Chongming, after discussing with Ye Yaming, decided to launch the osmanthus tea the next day. Following Ye Yaming’s suggestion, he wrote a notice on rice paper and posted it on the door, announcing the new osmanthus tea.

At the same time, another batch of osmanthus tea was sent to the Mei family the previous night. Early in the morning, Ye Hongsheng left the city, meeting the guards and escort leader Guan Canghai at the city gate, and headed to the capital.

Accompanying them was the injured guard from the capital, who had been recovering at Huichun Hall. With his injuries improving and the weather cool, the doctor agreed to let him return. As for the two injured guards from Guan Canghai’s escort agency, they had been taken home by their families to recover after being out of danger.

In front of Jixiang Lou, someone looked at the notice and wondered, “Osmanthus tea? What kind of tea is that? Is it made by brewing dried osmanthus flowers?”

Another person, suddenly realizing, said, “I remember now. A while ago, someone was collecting osmanthus flowers everywhere. I saw children picking osmanthus flowers by the roadside while riding a carriage. Could it be that the Ye family bought them to make osmanthus tea?”

“I saw that too. My wife even had our daughters pick the osmanthus flowers from our trees to sell, saying they would wither in a few days, so it was better to sell them for some silver to buy a good dish for the servants. I didn’t expect the Ye family to buy them and make osmanthus tea.”

When collecting the flowers, Ye Chongming didn’t want to attract Meng Chengwei’s attention, so he entrusted familiar people to shout and buy osmanthus flowers along the streets.

The tea customers at Jixiang Lou were generally wealthy. Even if they didn’t sell osmanthus flowers, they had heard the shouts or their family members mentioned it.

Someone else raised a new question, “Does Osmanthus taste good in tea? If it did, someone would have made osmanthus tea long ago.”

“Right, I’ve only heard of using Osmanthus to make Osmanthus sugar, never directly brewing it. Many households in Lin’an City grow Osmanthus. If it tasted good, people would have collected and dried it for tea long ago.”

Those who trusted the Ye family’s tea-making skills said, “If it were that simple, the Ye family wouldn’t market it as a new tea. They must have used some special tea-making techniques. With Second Master Ye involved, it must taste great.”

With that, they walked in, “Let’s go, let’s try it.”

A group of people entered, some on the first floor, some on the second, all planning to order a pot of osmanthus tea to taste.

When they asked the waiter, they found that osmanthus tea wasn’t cheap. Though not as expensive as top-grade tuan tea, it was priced similarly to mid-grade tuan tea, much more expensive than loose tea or tea dust.

Some complained about the price, “Osmanthus is cheap, just a few wen per jin. Why is the tea so expensive?”

The waiter smiled, “Sir, while Osmanthus is cheap, our master extracted the essence of Osmanthus and used a secret method to blend it with loose tea. Try a pot, and you’ll see. The tea looks like loose tea but has a rich osmanthus fragrance and tastes better than just loose tea.”

This explanation, provided by Ye Yaming to mislead those trying to replicate the osmanthus tea, convinced the customers.

“Really?” a customer hesitated.

The waiter added, “Since you all come here often and know each other, why not share a pot to taste? A pot is best shared among four people.”

This suggestion was quickly agreed upon, and groups of four ordered a pot together. Some, trusting the Ye family’s tea quality and not minding the cost, ordered a pot for themselves.

Soon, the tea master brought the brewed tea.

Unlike modern times, where machines harvest large quantities of black and green tea, all tea was hand-picked. To ensure quality and price, the Ye family had strict tea-picking standards: spring tea was picked as one bud and one leaf or even bud shoots for top-grade tea cakes; the remaining old leaves were made into mid- and low-grade tea cakes or loose tea. Summer and autumn tea was picked as one bud and two leaves or paired leaves for steamed green tea (loose tea), with the remaining old leaves made into coarse tea.

Due to strict picking standards and Ye Hongsheng’s excellent tea-making skills, even the Ye family’s loose tea tasted better than others, though it was more expensive.

When making osmanthus tea, the Ye family’s loose tea wasn’t enough, so they bought tea from others. Other tea leaves weren’t picked as carefully, with varying leaf sizes and less refined tea-making skills, resulting in a taste not as good as the Ye family’s loose tea. Ye Yaming categorized the osmanthus tea into three grades based on the tea base quality, with different prices accordingly.