Chapter 580: Scented Tea

The speed of the Xuanyuan Tribe's boats was a bit too slow; even when traveling upstream, they didn't even reach half the speed of Huaxia's, so Huaxia had already made full preparations to wait and welcome the arrival of Xuanyuan. Moreover, by the time Xuanyuan arrived, the wheat in Huaxia would be ready to head, and Xuanyuan would absolutely not let go of any opportunity to inspect the secrets of Huaxia.

The Tea Leaves had also been stir-fried and prepared. Baifeng very much wanted to make some scented tea, but they did not have jasmine or sweet osmanthus here, so he could not achieve that kind of lingering fragrance; however, he still chose another type of flower: the Kernel flower.

The Kernel plant was too plain and obscure; its flowers were very small, but they were snow-white and had a very rich fragrance, possessing quite the air of the line, "Though the moss flower is as small as a grain of rice, it still learns to bloom like a Peony."

The fruit was also one of the berries most commonly eaten in China. After it was fully ripe, it was relatively sweet, and if it were hit by frost after entering Winter, it would be even sweeter, and there was no fear of it rotting. The only trouble was that the pit was a bit large, and its name also came from this pit: Kernel, a medicinal material, though one not commonly used.

Furthermore, the people of China all slept very well, so they basically had no use for this type of medicine; thus, the Kernel could only serve as a berry. But this year, Baifeng chose to harvest its flowers to make scented tea. The dried Tea Leaves met the blooming Kernel flowers, which were releasing a pure fragrance, and after several rounds of scenting, a very small amount of scented tea was produced.

Because it was in the experimental stage, and the Kernel flowers were also very rare—the entire branch was covered in thorns—one could only carefully snip off a branch and then shake it into a bamboo basket, collecting it slowly like this.

Moreover, the flowers were also very small, about the size of a grain of rice, and the later separation work was not easy. The best scented tea should be one where you only smell the fragrance without seeing the flowers.

Once the flowering period of the Kernel flowers passed, the production of the scented tea could only be declared complete. After several rounds of screening by tools and manual labor, about thirty-plus jin of the best scented tea was delivered to Baifeng.

The first thing Baifeng could smell was the elegant Kernel floral fragrance, and he felt that this elegance had a very rich depth, better than the scent of jasmine; jasmine appeared too frivolous.

Baifeng took out a small amount and brewed it with boiling water. His entire room was immediately covered by a more intense floral fragrance, as if he were sitting in a thicket of Kernel. The taste and mouthfeel of the tea were the best Baifeng had ever drunk in his two lifetimes—though, of course, this also had to do with Baifeng not having much experience in his previous life.

Of this much new tea, Baifeng kept two jin for himself, then the dignitaries on his list each received half a jin, and the little bit left over was kept in storage, as there might be a use for it in the future.

As for the second and third-grade scented tea where the flowers and leaves had not been picked clean, it was graded and sent to people of different ranks; this counted as part of their wages, a special favor.

The remaining lower-grade scented tea entered the market for ordinary people to purchase. The price was several times that of ordinary Tea Leaves. Because the supply of Tea Leaves had been cut off for a long time, upon hearing that the tea was going on sale, the two shops in Huaxia City already had long lines forming. Everyone was carrying or pushing carts, either with grain or Cloth, all prepared to trade for the tea, fearing that if they went late, there would be none left.

The scented tea, which had a much higher price, was still a hot commodity and was gone before long. Added to this was the fact that many people were afraid the tea supply would be cut off again, so they intended to buy in large quantities and hoard it, to avoid having none to drink later.

To ensure that most families in Huaxia could buy tea, the shops had to implement a purchase limit policy. This was a matter of no choice; after all, the fresh leaves traded by the entire Suiren Clan plus the Xuanyuan Tribe, after processing, did not even add up to two thousand jin of dry tea. Therefore, this season's tea was still something only a small portion of people could afford to drink.

The reason Baifeng made scented tea was, first, that the flavor of scented tea was quite unique, which could increase the variety of Huaxia's tea and promote the progress of Huaxia's tea-making technology. Another reason was that scented tea was easier for people to accept, which was also Baifeng's main goal.

If one wanted the Xuanyuan Tribe to value tea, one had to make them accustomed to drinking tea and make them like drinking it. According to Baifeng's experience, liking to drink tea was not a difficult thing; the hardest part was the initial acceptance. If the quality of the Tea Leaves was too poor and the bitter and astringent tastes outweighed the fragrance, naturally not many people would like it. Scented tea, however, could change this situation to the greatest extent. As long as Xuanyuan could accept the scented tea and, in a short time, become accustomed to and like drinking tea, then his subsequent plans would be easy to implement.

Xuanyuan's boats were approaching Huaxia, but he felt a bit unfamiliar with the banks of the Dahe now. The strange devices from before had moved locations, and there was a thick layer of stone underneath; one could even see stones on the riverbank.

Their boats were guided by small Huaxia boats into a river bend, which appeared to be a man-made river bend. The people of Huaxia told him this was called a Matou, similar to the ones built of wood in the Xuanyuan Tribe, with the same function.

Xuanyuan took a look and it was indeed so. The main function of loading and unloading cargo was there, and there were steps made of strange stones, making walking more convenient. On both sides, there were also strange tools: large pieces of wood combined together, with ropes on them, as well as hooks and strange round objects.

Xuanyuan asked: "What are these things? Are they your Weapon?"

The Soldier responsible for welcoming Xuanyuan ashore smiled without answering, waiting for the massive delegation of the Xuanyuan Tribe to all dock. This not-so-large Matou could not accommodate so many boats, so the others could only be left in the river channel.

The Soldiers knew what should be said and what should not. Once these most important people landed, they immediately said: "Welcome, Tribal Chief Xuanyuan, to be a guest in our Huaxia. From now on, Huaxia will protect your safety, but we also hope you will not run around everywhere. Aside from where you are staying, if you go to visit places further away, you will need our Soldiers to accompany and protect you. Now you may walk forward with me; our King and the officials are waiting for you."