Of course, Guo Kang also knows very well that it is easy to convince Theodora, and the next thing is the highlight he will face today.

Not long after, Cao Jian brought a few servants to bring the tea and invited everyone to taste it.

The high-end tea of the Purple Horde, or "tea" in the original sense, was basically bought from the East. At the beginning, some people tried to plant it themselves, but it may be that the soil and water are not adapted, and the planting has not been good, and everyone still likes imported goods.

However, the tea-drinking culture brought by the Purple Horde made the local "tea" of Greece also popular.

In the mountains of Greece, some plants called "camellia" grow. Local shepherds often collect their branches and leaves, dry them and make this "tea".

Greek camellia from different regions has some differences in variety, taste and processing methods. Some people like it fresh, while others like it after it's been brewed. However, the way of use is similar, it is steamed in hot water, soaked, and then drunk.

Originally, this mountain tea was only a drink used by mountain people to improve its taste, and sometimes it was sold in towns and cities. However, after the rise of the Purple Horde, many Greeks began to consciously pursue "tea drinking" under the influence of the upper class.

When they couldn't get the oriental tea, they began to think about how to use the soil tea, so they began the process of active breeding and planting. In the early days, tea farmers were mainly Peloponnese shepherds working part-time, but later, as the atmosphere in the East became stronger, some merchants began to invest in the establishment of tea plantations, making it known as an industry.

In addition to local consumption, Greek merchants often made glazed pottery vases in imitation of the Yuan Dynasty, copied some Chinese characters on which they might not have understood the meaning, and filled some local camellia, and then claimed that it was "Seris high-grade tea" and sold it to Western European rich people who did not know how to do it.

After repeated times, the Western Europeans also discovered that something was wrong, and scolded the old Greek liar and deceived people. Some chambers of commerce even have a special tea appraiser to distinguish between these real and fake teas to prevent sellers from shoddy.

Of course, this relatively cheap earthen tea has also become a means used by many less wealthy Europeans to brag about their wealth and status, and most of the local nobles really can't distinguish each other anyway;

In turn, this kind of impersonation made the real upper-class aristocrats particularly like to emphasize that their tea and porcelain are distinctive, truly oriental products, and tea tasting has gradually become a popular habit. If you can't taste the origin, the advantages and disadvantages, you are embarrassed to pretend to be in style in front of other nobles.

It can only be said that the development of things is sometimes really unexpected.

Cao's tea is naturally specially bought, but it's a pity that Guo Kang himself is not very particular about it and has never cared much about it.

Everyone chatted and tasted at the same time. Theodora took the teacup, took a sip, turned his head and asked Guo Kang: "What do you think of this batch of tea?" ”

Guo Kang also took a sip, but he thought about it for a while, and he couldn't think of any difference, so he had to whisper: "It should be...... It's all right, right? ”

"Actually, I don't think we need to care too much about that." Seeing that Theodora had nothing to say, he took the initiative to explain: "If you think about it, these Seris teas transported from far and wide are probably not of the highest quality. I heard that the real good tea production area was very strict in the Ming Dynasty, and it was not allowed to be exported casually. ”

"If you want me to say, instead of buying at a high price, you should drink locally. Anyway, it's all vanilla soaked in water, and it doesn't matter if there is a difference in taste, I taste it all good. ”

Theodora, however, was not very satisfied with his evaluation.

"You're like the Nurhachi raised by Jeanne, who is used to eating weeds and feeding him fine chaff, but he can't eat it." Theodora shook her head and said, "This is the excellent crystallization of the Ceris civilization, where is it a vanilla thing." ”

"Okay, okay, I'm just an ordinary Serisian, and I don't understand the Seris civilization." Guo Kang said helplessly: "I just watched these today, and I think we should really save some money." It's useless to practice drinking tea, it's better to save the money and make a steam brother to ......"

"Brother Tian is every day, and the rest of the days are gone?" Theodora was so angry that he didn't even care about religious issues: "Why don't you go and marry Brother Tian?" ”

"Ah......" Guo Kang didn't know how to answer now.

Fortunately, the embarrassing time was not long in coming, and the servants brought desserts again, and invited everyone to taste them. The buns and biscuits succeeded in diverting the conversation from Theodora.

In this day and age, fluffy sweet bread is no longer as expensive as it used to be. At least, in places like Italy, it's already something that wealthy citizens can consume, and there are special recipe books that teach people how to cook.

After the popularization of this food, there are more and more patterns, but the characteristics are similar. It is necessary to put in a lot of cane sugar, eggs and other ingredients, and sometimes depending on the economic situation and taste needs, honey, roses, saffron and the like are added to adjust the taste.

The largest amount used here is sucrose. And the good news is that the Purple Horde can now produce this thing on its own, and finally no longer has to rely on imports.

Sugar production first matured in India and Persia, and later, the Arabs brought these agricultural products to the rest of the world. They consciously bred varieties and expanded their cultivation to spread crops such as sugarcane, cotton, bananas, eggplant, lemons, etc. This period is also known as the "Arab Agricultural Revolution".

At that time, sugar cane was still called "Persian reed", and the Arabs brought it to Egypt, Morocco and Iberia, and began to grow it in large quantities to make cane sugar.

Later, however, with the Spanish reconquest, local agriculture was greatly damaged, and the sugar industry collapsed. The center of gravity of sucrose shifted to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Arabs also introduced sugar cane to Crete and Cyprus, which were later controlled by Italian merchants. After the rise of the Purple Horde, they seized a number of islands and also acquired sugar cane estates and sugar mills in these places.

The most important thing is that the "white sugar" technology in the East took shape during the Tang Dynasty.

The Seris were able to produce purer, truly "white" sugar, far superior to the yellowing and reddening of the products made by the Indians and Arabs, and for thousands of years no one else could learn it. Therefore, white sugar has also been a commodity exported by sea, at least since the Yuan Dynasty.

The Purple Horde also acquired the technology to make white sugar by recruiting craftsmen, which formed a huge advantage over its counterparts in the Mediterranean world.

Because of their importance, these plantations were under the direct jurisdiction of the Great Khan. Earlier, at a private meeting, the Empress had told her stepmother that the couple was going to use the Cypriot sugar mill as Theodora's dowry, much to the surprise of the others.

It can be said that the biggest shareholder of these desserts is Theodora herself, so Guo Kang doesn't know whether to persuade everyone to eat less sugar. He feared that if he kept saying that, he would be considered to be unable to eat the chaff for Nurhachi.

(End of chapter)