Chapter 24: The Taste is Amazing

But why did he feel nervous about the new tea that Ye Yaming mentioned? Was it because her performance yesterday was so shocking that it made him have expectations he shouldn’t have?

Ye Chongming smiled self-deprecatingly and shook his head.

Even though he told himself it was impossible, he couldn’t help but feel eager to go home and see Ye Yaming’s results, even though many issues at the tea shop needed to be resolved due to the trouble caused by Ye Hongrong and Ding Jian.

“Miss, the old master is back. He wants you to come over,” a maid came to Ye Yaming’s courtyard to deliver the message.

“Alright, I’ll go right away.” Ye Yaming packed some osmanthus tea in a small porcelain jar and went to the main courtyard with Bai Xin.

“Yaming is here? Come, sit down.” The usually calm Ye Chongming showed some impatience, causing the old madam to glance at him several times.

“How is it? Any progress?” he asked.

Ye Yaming smiled, took out the white porcelain tea jar, placed it on the table, and said, “I used to make osmanthus honey and often thought about how to infuse the flower’s fragrance into tea.”

She looked at Ye Chongming and said seriously, “Grandfather, you know that tea leaves are very absorbent. Infusing them with flower fragrance is easy, but preserving that fragrance is difficult. Maybe if we bake it, the fragrance would last longer. So today, I used the method I’ve been thinking about for the past six months to make this batch of tea. Please take a look.”

Creating osmanthus tea in one go seemed miraculous, but making tea using a method developed over six months was not so shocking.

Time was tight, and she had to “develop” the osmanthus tea in the shortest time possible, or the osmanthus flowers would soon be out of season.

Ye Chongming reached for the white porcelain tea jar and opened the lid. Before he could bring it close to his nose, he smelled the fragrance of osmanthus flowers. Not only he, but even the old madam sitting next to him, separated by a tea table, also smelled it and exclaimed in surprise, “So fragrant.”

Since Ye Yaming was a girl, she was under the guidance and supervision of the old madam. Ye Chongming wanted the old madam to know about her talents and their importance to the family, ensuring her and the second house’s position in the family.

Moreover, she needed the support of the old madam to use the family’s servants, so Ye Chongming had told the old madam about Ye Yaming’s performance yesterday and her intention to make osmanthus tea.

Smelling the fragrance, the old madam also began to look forward to this osmanthus tea. As a woman, she loved floral scents. If tea could carry the fragrance of flowers, it would be perfect. She shared the same thought and understood Ye Yaming’s desire to make osmanthus tea.

Ye Chongming raised his hand and ordered, “Boil water, I want to brew tea.” He deeply regretted not believing that Ye Yaming could make tea, so he hadn’t asked the servants to prepare water and tea utensils in advance.

Fortunately, the Ye family had no shortage of tea-making utensils and people who knew how to brew tea. The servants quickly lit the small red clay stove under the corridor. The white porcelain tea set that Ye Chongming usually used for brewing tea was also brought over.

“I’ll brew it,” Ye Yaming said, sitting at the tea table. She glanced at the tea set on the table and then instructed, “Bring another teapot.”

The servant looked at Ye Chongming, and seeing him nod, quickly brought another white porcelain teapot.

Ye Yaming had already arranged the tea set. When the water boiled, she first poured some into a porcelain teapot, using the rest to rinse the teapot and cups.

After rinsing the tea utensils, the water in the teapot had cooled to about 90 degrees Celsius. She then poured the water into the teapot to brew the tea.

She didn’t cover the teapot, and as the steam rose, the fragrance of osmanthus flowers quickly filled the air.

“Oh, it’s so fragrant. I love the scent of osmanthus flowers. People will buy this tea for this fragrance alone,” Old Madam Ye praised.

Ye Chongming nodded but remained silent.

The fragrance was indeed wonderful, but tea was meant to be drunk. If the taste was bad or strange, it wouldn’t be considered a successful tea.

Ye Yaming smiled at the old madam without saying a word. Estimating that the tea had reached its best flavor, she poured it into the white porcelain teapot holding the boiling water.

Knowing when to pour out the tea depended on various factors, such as the type of tea leaves, water temperature, amount of tea, and the brewing utensils, all judged by experience.

Experienced tea brewers could precisely control these factors.

From the age of ten, Ye Yaming had brewed tea for her grandfather, and her tea-making skills were praised even by the most discerning tea connoisseurs.

After pouring out the tea, she put down the teapot, picked up the teapot with the brewed tea, and poured it into cups, then stood up to serve the tea to the two elders.

Ye Chongming and Old Madam Ye noticed that her tea-brewing method seemed particularly complicated, with water and tea being poured back and forth between two teapots, which they found strange. However, they didn’t ask immediately but first picked up their tea cups.

Seeing the tea was very clear, Ye Chongming nodded.

Cloudy tea soup, unless caused by excessive tea hairs or “cold cloudiness,” often indicates insufficient processing, such as over-drying, over-rolling, or other steps leading to too many broken tea leaves.

Most teas required clear tea soup. Now, this osmanthus tea had a rich fragrance and clear tea soup, passing the first two tests.

Ye Chongming, who took good care of himself, usually didn’t drink overly hot tea. But eager to know the taste of the tea, he blew on the cup and took a small sip.

The first taste was a strong fragrance, different from the smell, truly refreshing and soothing, filling him with a pleasant aroma. It felt as if the scent of osmanthus flowers floating in the city had been absorbed into his heart, making him want to exclaim, “Good.”

But before he could, a fresh and sweet taste spread in his mouth, stimulating his taste buds, and his mouth filled with sweet saliva. The persistent bitterness and stuffiness of the loose tea were completely absent in this brew.

“Is this made from our loose tea?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes, there’s no bitterness or stuffiness, and it tastes surprisingly good. I’ve never had such delicious tea,” the Old Madam said, equally astonished.

“It’s our San tea, the one you sent me this morning,” Ye Yaming replied.

“Could adding osmanthus flowers make the tea taste so good?” Ye Chongming wondered.