In the Tang Dynasty, there were many stories about talented people and beautiful women, but Li Ye and Lu Yu were definitely bizarre.
Li Ye was sent to a Taoist temple at the age of twelve. He gave up his common name and took the nickname Ji Lan.
Most of the nunneries in the Tang Dynasty were similar to the high-end clubs of later generations. Li Jilan was very beautiful and elegant, and was quickly sought after by literati and elegant guests.
The guests who came to visit had crossed the threshold of the nunnery. In addition, Li Jilan liked to be noisy, so he hung out with this group of literati all day long, and gradually became famous.
Among this group of literati, there was a man named Zhu Fang, who fell in love with Li Jilan and had originally been privately engaged for life. Later, perhaps due to family background, the two separated, causing Li Jilan's first love to end without a problem.
After the end of her first relationship, it took a long time for Li Jilan to meet Lu Yu until Tianbao's fifteenth year.
Lu Yu was an outcast when he was young because of his ugly appearance, and was later adopted by a Buddhist temple.
When he was twelve years old, he went to work as an oddball in a theater troupe. Although he was ugly in appearance, he spoke witty and played many well-known clowns, and was loved by the audience.
Once, Li Qiwu, the prefect of Jingling, saw Lu Yu's performance and saw that he was quick-thinking and ambitious, so he wrote a letter of recommendation asking him to study literature with the hermit.
During this period of study, Lu Yu became interested in tea science.
After finishing his studies and coming down from the mountain, Lu Yu traveled all over the country to study the tea culture in various places. Finally, he returned to Jiankang City and began to organize his manuscripts and prepare to compile the "Tea Classic".
It was at that time that Li Jilan and Lu Yu met for the first time.
Li Jilan has good looks, broad vision, and high talents.
Lu Yu has poor appearance, no official status, and is relatively isolated in character.
How the former could fall in love with the latter is a mystery to everyone else.
There are several explanations: first, Lu Yu is different from ordinary men and does not try to please Li Jilan, which instead arouses the latter's competitive spirit; second, Lu Yu has real talent and knowledge, and can be said to be the founder of a sect in tea science.
The first person to arouse Li Jilan's affection.
Interestingly, although Li Jilan was interested in Lu Yu, Lu Yu was obsessed with tea science and turned a blind eye to the former, and even deliberately alienated him.
Li Jilan once went into the mountains to look for Lu Yu, but the latter left without saying goodbye.
Li Jilan was so angry that he wrote the famous poem "Looking for Lu Yu but not meeting him".
After getting along badly with Lu Yu, Li Jilan may have given up on herself and completely let go of matters between men and women. Later, she dated the poet monk Shi Jiaoran, Han Kui, Liu Changqing, Yan Bojun, Xiao Shuzi and other celebrities.
In some unofficial histories, Li Jilan at that time was even described as charming and charming, with guests like crucian carp.
Looking at the man and woman in front of him, the first four words that Zhou Jun thought of were "good fortune tricks people", but then he thought of something else.
Before the advent of the "Tea Classic", the research on tea drinking in the past dynasties only stayed at the operational level.
After the publication of the "Tea Classic", tea science was regarded as a science and officially entered the public's field of vision.
It was also from this book that the audience of tea ceremony slowly expanded in the Tang Dynasty and surrounding countries, and eventually formed an industry.
Zhou Jun thought of this and asked Lu Yu: "Is there cloud tea in Jiankang too?"
Lu Yu replied: "There are cloud teas in the south of the Yangtze River, most of which come from Hebei. There is also a local tea in the south of the Yangtze River, called palace tea. I heard that both are prepared using some special techniques. No matter the shape or color
The aroma and taste are different from ordinary tea."
Zhou Jun asked a few more questions in detail, and then inferred from Lu Yu's words that when Li Heng went to Jiankang, he established a closed tea house with the help of the tea-frying technology obtained from Shuofang, and found Li Heng.
A large number of craftsmen are responsible for the research of fried tea technology.
After some experiments, Nan Tang not only successfully copied the craftsmanship of Yuncha, but also made use of the inherent advantages of southern tea varieties to create a better-tasting Gongcha.
Once this tea was launched, it became popular throughout Southern Tang society.
From the courtiers to the wealthy businessmen, everyone regards palace tea as a treasure.
Zhou Jun was very interested after listening to Lu Yu's narration. He didn't expect that fried tea had not become popular in the north, but it had become popular in the south.
At the beginning, Zhou Jun informed Shuofang's army about the tea-frying technique in order to make good friends with Shuofang's soldiers.
However, Zhou Jun also saved a trick.
The development of tea frying technology actually went through two stages.
The first stage is to put the tea leaves into a pot and fry them to make them uniform in texture, enhance the aroma, and then dry them in the sun to lock in the aroma of the tea.
The second stage of the improved tea-frying process, called roasted tea, began in the Yuanfu period of the Northern Song Dynasty (around 1100 AD) and was first created by teahouses in Yangzhou.
Specifically, the dried tea leaves are first dug with a cone knife, and then the dried tea holes are opened with a bamboo spat. Finally, the pieces of tea are strung together with a thin bamboo stick and placed.
Bake on a shed (wooden frame) over slow fire.
Generally speaking, a bakery is dug into the ground two feet deep, two and a half feet wide, and one foot long, with a low wall above it.
The wooden frame for hojicha tea is one foot high and divided into upper and lower sheds. The semi-dried tea is placed in the lower shed and moved to the upper shed after it is completely dry.
Not only that, during the Northern Song Dynasty, a simple thermometer (long copper conduit) made of hot gas and water pressure was also installed in the baking rack.
Because the boiling points of most of the aromatic essential oils in tea aroma components are around 150 degrees, the baking temperature should be below 150 degrees, and usually no more than 110 degrees is appropriate.
Only at this temperature can you get the finest tea with the best flavor.
Hojicha is a later process of frying tea. Compared with frying tea manually in an iron pot, its biggest advantage is to ensure the stability of the tea aroma and avoid tea paste and tea produced due to uneven heating of tea leaves when frying tea by hand.
life situation.
In addition, by the Ming Dynasty, roasted tea also had unique techniques such as reheating, blending, aging, etc., which can be said to have advanced tea-making techniques to a new stage.
Zhou Jun recalled the knowledge in his mind and began to remember the days when he was a policeman sitting in an office.
At that time, the old director of the police station had no other hobbies except drinking tea.
From choosing tea, frying tea, roasting, all the way to talking about water sources and tea sets, the old director can often talk for more than an hour as soon as he opens his mouth.
Zhou Jun listened for a long time, and his ears almost became calloused, so he could only find an opportunity to go out on patrol.
Unexpectedly, in the Tang Dynasty, this seemingly useless knowledge turned out to be a rare treasure.
After thinking about this, Zhou Jun asked Lu Yu: "You study tea science, aren't you curious about the production process of cloud tea and palace tea?"
Lu Yu said anxiously: "Of course I want to know, but the palace tea workshop in Jiankang City is heavily guarded, and you have to show a ticket to enter and exit, so it is impossible to enter. I heard that there is cloud tea in Bachuan, Chang'an, so I wanted to try it here.
luck……"
Zhou Jun: "The Yuncha Workshop in Bachuan was demolished many years ago."
When Lu Yu heard this, he was immediately discouraged: "Tear it down?!"
Zhou Jun: "Do you know where the Jiangnan Palace tea making technique comes from?"
Before Lu Yu could speak, Li Jilan, who was listening intently, suddenly shouted: "I know! At a banquet, someone from the Department of Rites said that the technique of palace tea was presented by Shuofang's army."
Zhou Jun: "Then who did Shuofang's army learn about it?"
Lu Yu and Li Jilan looked at each other, both shaking their heads.
Zhou Jun pointed at himself.
Lu Yu was so shocked that he opened his mouth, and it took him a long time to stammer, "Is it possible that the Prime Minister invented the technique of making palace tea?"
Zhou Jun: "The guardian of Shuofang's army back then was Guo Ziyi. He is now in the Criminal Department. If you don't believe it, you can ask him."
Lu Yu shook his head quickly and said, "I believe it, I believe it!"
What is Zhou Jun's identity? Since he said so, it must be true. Besides, there is no need for the prime minister of a country to deceive others about this kind of matter.
Lu Yu thought like this, and when he looked at Zhou Jun again, his eyes lost all magnanimity, and he turned to apologize and said with a smile: "Lu is ignorant and does not know the masters of tea science, but he is doing it in front of the Prime Minister."
Li Jilan and Lu Yu had been together for a long time, and this was the first time he saw the latter showing such an expression, and he couldn't help but look at it a few more times.
Zhou Jun: "In your opinion, where do Yuncha and Gongcha rank among the world's teas?"
Lu Yu: "In order to write the "Tea Classic", Lu tasted all the teas in the world, but if you want to comment on the superior ones, there are only Yuncha and Gongcha. If compared between the two, Gongcha is slightly better.
Higher than cloud tea."
Zhou Jun: "When it comes to tea making in the world, if we want to judge whether it is better or not, neither Yuncha nor Gongcha is the best choice."
Lu Yu subconsciously raised his throat: "Is it possible that there are better tea-making products in this world?"
Zhou Jun glanced at Lu Yu: "Yes, there is, but it's very difficult to make."
When Lu Yu heard this, he straightened up quickly and said loudly: "As long as I can taste the tea that the Prime Minister said, even if I have to go up the mountain of swords and go down into the sea of fire, Lu will never refuse!"