Li Ying was boiling a pot of osmanthus coconut milk jelly in the kitchen as a snack to go with coffee. Unexpectedly, A Man rushed in in a hurry and pulled her away.
"Sister, that Lady Lian is still up to no good. She's come up with something called tea artistry and lured away most of our customers!"
Tea artistry?
Li Ying raised an eyebrow.
According to ancient records, tea artistry, also known as water painting, involves pouring hot water from a tea kettle or adding water with a tea spoon after whisking tea powder to create changing patterns on the tea foam, depicting flying birds, beasts, plants, rivers, and mountains, which are extremely beautiful.
As a food blogger, Li Ying had naturally dabbled in tea artistry, but she really didn't expect that Lady Lian would also know this skill.
"Wait for me to change my clothes. Let's go and have a look."
Sure enough, there was a huge crowd outside Lady Lian's tea house.
With great difficulty, the two of them squeezed in and saw Lady Lian in a plain and elegant dress. In front of her were delicate Jianzhan tea bowls and a red clay stove. Her posture was quite proper.
She crushed the tea cake with a tea pestle, finely ground it in a tea mill, filtered the tea powder through a tea sieve, put it into a Jianzhan bowl, added a little warm water, and stirred it into a tea paste.
Li Ying watched as she stirred and whisked with a bamboo tea whisk. She really had some skills and raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Lady Lian also saw Li Ying in the crowd. Without showing any emotion, she took two more bowls of tea paste. Using a tea spoon and a tea needle as brushes, she scooped up the tea paste and quickly outlined the contours of mountains and rivers on the tea foam.
The on - looking common people were stunned. They thought that Lu Xunguang's coffee latte art was already very sophisticated, but they didn't expect that Lady Lian's skills were so amazing!
Everyone was silent. Lady Lian smiled slightly and said softly, "This tea artistry is a family skill of my mother's family. I don't know how it was stolen. That's okay, but now it's been done in a shoddy way. It's really unbearable."
"I'm really grateful that you all have given me the opportunity to show the real tea artistry. Today's osmanthus waffles and water chestnut hawthorn cakes in the tea house are the snacks that Inspector Lin prepared to send to the capital for the nobles. You are welcome to taste them."
What she meant was that her tea artistry was the right way, and the "coffee latte art" was just a clumsy imitation. Bringing up Inspector Lin and the "nobles in the capital" as her backers made her words more convincing.
A Man was extremely angry and whispered to Li Ying.
"Brother - in - law Lu's latte art is made in one go with milk foam, while her tea artistry is painting on the tea foam with tea paste. They are clearly two completely different things. This Lady Lian is really shameless for distorting the truth and saying that we copied her!"
She was about to rush up and argue angrily, but Li Ying just smiled and whispered a few words in her ear.
A Man's eyes lit up and she quickly obeyed the order and left. Only Li Ying remained. She calmly spoke out loudly in the crowd, "Lady Lian's tea artistry is really ingenious."
She strolled over and lightly walked to Lady Lian's side. Frowning and examining the bowl of tea, she said indifferently, "As recorded in 'Qing Yilu', in recent times, there have been people who, by pouring water from afar and using special techniques, can make the tea foam form images of birds, beasts, fish, insects, flowers, and birds. They are as delicate as paintings, but they will disappear soon. This is a transformation of tea, and people at that time called it tea artistry."
"Lady Lian paints on the tea foam with tea paste of different thicknesses. Although it is wonderful, it can only be called tea paste painting at most. It is not tea artistry made entirely by the harmony of water and tea. It is really too artificial."
As she spoke, she slowly roasted the tea cake with a low fire, knocked off the tea crumbs with a tea pestle, took a silver tea mill and a very fine tea sieve, and filtered out the tea powder. Only when the water in the tea kettle boiled to the point of small bubbles did she warm the bowl and prepare the tea paste.
"For the first pour, the tea should be evenly heated, looking like sparse stars and bright moons. For the second pour, strike and whisk vigorously, and the tea will be like shining pearls... For the seventh pour, the thickness should be just right, and the milk - like foam will surge. Pouring the tea in these seven steps and making the tea foam stay still is called 'biting the bowl'."
Li Ying held the tea whisk and her movements were as smooth as flowing clouds. The color of the whisked tea was bluish - white, the tea foam was dense and did not disperse, and there was not a single water mark in the tea bowl. It was truly a top - grade tea.
She gently shook her wrist, and the tea spoon left a mark on the tea foam, printing a white bamboo branch pattern. The bamboo leaves and tips leaned to one side, as if a gentle breeze was blowing.
One used only clear water to create, while the other used three or four bowls of tea paste of different thicknesses. The difference in their tea - making skills was obvious at a glance.
"Dear guests, I've made a fool of myself."
Li Ying smiled sweetly and then said softly, "Tea artistry, tea paste painting, and coffee latte art have different methods and each has its own advantages. They cannot be compared. As long as they can make you happy, there's really no need to distinguish which is better."
As soon as she said this, Lady Lian, who had been trying to label "coffee latte art" as a heresy, seemed rather petty.
Li Ying paused and then said, "Dear guests, if you are interested in tea artistry and coffee latte art, you might as well come to the coffee shop. A Man has already prepared some seasonal snacks baked by myself in the shop. Although they are not tributes, their flavors are novel and interesting. They are very delicious whether paired with special - blend coffee or whisked tea."
Lu Xunguang had been devoting himself to researching the flavors of special - blend coffee every day. Since Li Ying couldn't help much, she used the osmanthus and pumpkins he had selected to make some new snacks and sold them as "co - branded items".
Besides the coconut milk osmanthus cake, there was also the osmanthus mille - feuille cake. Butter, egg liquid, and sweet osmanthus milk were added to the flour to make a smooth batter, which was then spread into thin pancakes on a low - fire stove.
A sufficient amount of sugared osmanthus was also added to the cheese filling, which was whipped until it was smooth and creamy, and then spread layer by layer. A circle of osmanthus cream was piped on top as a border, and then the osmanthus jelly made by boiling seaweed jelly and sugared osmanthus together was poured on.
This osmanthus mille - feuille looked quite plain and unassuming, but when you took a bite, it was like swallowing the whole autumn. It was sweet but not cloying, and full of fragrance.
The steamed and crushed pumpkin puree was mixed with sugar, starch, egg liquid, and milk, stirred into a batter, poured into a baked tart shell, and baked until set. Then, whipped coconut milk cream was piped on and slightly smoothed, and toasted shredded coconut and osmanthus were sprinkled on. Finally, it was cut into small, neat pieces.
The golden - yellow pumpkin tarts were refreshing and low - fat. Even girls who didn't like sweets or were on a diet could enjoy them without worry.
Li Ying had long prepared these "co - branded" desserts that were only sold in the coffee shop. She was even more certain that even if it was just for these snacks, the diners would surely flock to the coffee shop.
However, the competition for the head of the Lu family was Lu Xunguang's private matter after all.
She knew that this man must want to take back the Ping An Bank from Lady Lian entirely by his own strength, so she hadn't intervened before.
But now Lady Lian had brought up Inspector Lin, clearly bullying Lu Xunguang for being alone and having no backing.
Li Ying could no longer stand by. That's why she told A Man not only to display the snacks but also to send messages to the restaurant and the dim - sum shop.
Lady Lian watched as most of the diners she had finally gathered left in an instant. She was so angry that her face turned pale.
Li Ying saw her anger and walked up to her calmly. She said casually, "Lady Lian, don't you want to use Inspector Lin as a backer to bully Brother Lu?"
"Now that I'm here to support him, he is no longer the helpless young man he used to be. Just wait and see what a real backer is!"