Chapter 310: Spring Tea Picking and Tea Roasting

Pour water over them to cool.

Grayish-brown bricks released thick clouds of smoke. A serf, wearing thick gloves, carefully removed a few bricks and handed them to Liszt, Gort, and Marcus.

"Let's test the hardness."

After two hammer strikes, the brick shattered with a loud clang.

"The hardness is average; the firing process wasn't quite enough," said Liszt calmly. Clearly, this batch didn't meet his standards.

The new batch was fired for an additional ten minutes, taking a full half-hour to come out of the kiln.

After pouring water over them to cool, the grayish-brown bricks reached the required hardness, comparable to that of granite.

Jo Maya Hammer, lying on a stretcher, felt the hardness and weight of the bricks and couldn't help but exclaim again, "My lord, with such uniformly shaped bricks, constructing any building will be very convenient. These bricks are as hard as stone, unlike fragile pottery."

"Glad it's useful. Then I'll leave the rest of the kiln's design and supervision to you. Once the kiln construction is complete, you'll start building the lighthouse immediately."

If Jo Maya hadn't arrived earlier, he would have only come into Liszt's attention after the bricks were successfully produced and the task completed. However, the smoke mission had changed, and Jo Maya's early arrival and preparation for the lighthouse construction significantly shortened the mission timeline.

Liszt turned to Marcus and asked, "Marcus, have you determined the location for the lighthouse?"

"I've scouted the location with Captain Kosto. We've decided to build it one mile west of Black Horse Port. The area has high terrain and good visibility, making it clear to see from ships. Plus, the rocky terrain around it doesn't interfere with walking, and transporting construction materials will be convenient," Marcus replied.

"Then we'll build the lighthouse at that location. Gort, continue overseeing the kiln's construction."

"As you wish, my lord."

After assigning the supervision task to Gort, Liszt, along with Marcus, Lassie, and Griffin, mounted his steed, Lightning, to begin another task of their journey to Black Horse Island: searching for wild tea trees.

There weren't many trees on the island.

The vast majority were rubber trees.

So, trees that were unidentifiable were very few. In just one day, Liszt found the reward from the previous smoke mission, three wild tea trees. These three wild tea trees were located next to each other, growing on the northern slope of Ice Grass Hill, easily visible at a glance.

The tea trees, being of the shrub type, weren't very tall, only about two meters.

They had numerous branches, disorderly and not as neat as cultivated tea trees. It was March, and the tender leaves of the wild tea trees had just sprouted, slightly different from what Liszt remembered. The edges weren't as serrated, and the buds weren't as prominent.

They weren't as refined as domesticated tea trees.

When harvesting tea, especially spring tea, you can pick just the buds, or a bud with one or two leaves.

A single bud is the newly sprouted tip before it forms a leaf; a bud with one leaf means the bud has grown into a tender leaf; a bud with two leaves means two buds have grown into tender leaves.

Some people preferred single buds, but it took approximately 30,000 to 40,000 buds to produce one jin (斤) of single-bud tea. The single bud was not fully developed, its flavor was less invigorating, and it carried a slight bitterness and astringency, not to mention it failed to withstand multiple infusions. However, those who favored single buds cherished its delicate aroma, sweetness, and the noble aura it exuded.

One or two leaves were more common, well-developed, rich in amino acids and vitamins, with sufficient tea aroma. However, when brewed, it lacked the "needle-like standing" visual appeal of single buds and had a slightly heavier taste with less elegance.

High-end Longjing tea, for example, was made from single buds.

Liszt didn't know the above knowledge. Before he crossed over, he was just an ordinary salaried worker who drank more beverages than tea. His understanding of tea came from the omnipresent ads on video websites, talking about large-leaf tea, small-leaf tea, numerous processing steps, and veteran experts overseeing the production.

"If I'm not mistaken, these trees should be called tea trees," Liszt said calmly, standing in front of the wild tea trees.

Marcus curiously asked, "Black tea trees? My lord, black tea plants typically have slightly reddish, round leaves and can bear fruit."

"This is... a green tea tree," said Liszt. "I read about it in a book on botany. The green tea tree is quite different from the black tea tree. Its young buds can be picked, fried, and then brewed into tea, which is very beneficial for the body."

"A green tea tree?"

Marcus murmured the name of the tree but didn’t say anything more. He understood that he wasn’t as knowledgeable as Lord Liszt. This young lord was well-read and knew many things. Just like with the rubber tree, which they only discovered thanks to the lord’s wisdom, they would have missed out on an important resource if not for him.

Without any delay, Liszt directly ordered the gathering of a group of female serfs to harvest the young buds of the three green tea trees.

They collected all types of buds—single buds, one bud with one or two leaves, or even one bud with three or four leaves. For now, they would collect everything.

Of course, based on middle school biology knowledge, he knew that when picking tea leaves, one should harvest the buds from the top of the tea tree. The top bud grows first and suppresses the growth of side buds. After picking the top bud, the side buds would grow, ensuring the tea tree’s continued growth wouldn’t be affected.

There were nearly 1,500 serfs working on Black Horse Island by now.

Many of them were female, and Griffin called over twenty, along with a few ladders, to pick the top buds of the green tea trees. Watching the serfs work, Liszt suddenly thought of a legend about tealeaves plucked by mouth.

It was said that there was a type of tea that virgins would pick using their mouths. The tea leaves, tainted with the virgin’s saliva, would become exceptionally fragrant. After frying, the tea would be placed in the virgin’s bosom for aging. The resulting new tea would be fragrant and clear, with the unique body scent of the virgin, called mouth-harvested tea.

Legends couldn’t be trusted, and Liszt, for one, didn’t believe it.

If the virgin picking the tea looked like someone unattractive, he was sure no one would want to drink that mouth-harvested tea.

After two hours of careful harvesting, the serfs had gathered most of the top buds, though the yield was modest—just about two pounds. With the two pounds of tender leaves and buds, Liszt prepared to board the ship and return to Flower Town. The work on Black Horse Island would be overseen by Griffin and Marcus, so there wouldn’t be any issues.

However, before leaving, Gort looked at him with an anxious gaze. "Lord, Frya is already nine months pregnant and could give birth at any time, but I can’t be by her side."

"Don’t worry, once the lighthouse is finished, you’ll be able to come back… Gort, Flower Town is important, but the construction of the port town here on Black Horse Island is equally important. We need you to stay here for now, as your expertise is crucial to the port town’s development. Marcus still lacks experience."

At this point, Gort could only rally his spirits. "Lord, please rest assured. Gort will do his best to plan the development of the port town!"

After comforting Gort, the Flowers set sail, gliding smoothly through the waves.

Looking at the two pounds of fresh tea leaves in the basket, Liszt couldn’t help but wonder, "I wonder how much dried tea we’ll end up with and what it will taste like when brewed?"