She carefully took out a piece, unwrapped the cotton paper, revealing a tea cake with a dark, glossy color and golden hairs.
"This is my prized possession, the best I have reserved."
As Qiu Lizhen skillfully pried the tea with a tea needle, she said to Jiang Tao with a hint of pride in sharing a treasure:
"It's an old Ban Zhang ancient tree raw puerh tea with some years on it. My friend put in a lot of effort acquiring it, and I haven't had the heart to drink it often myself."
Jiang Tao didn't know much about tea culture, but he could sense Qiu Lizhen's regard for this tea cake.
He watched the brown-golden tea leaves being gently nudged into the pre-warmed purple clay teapot, and it seemed that a faint, elusive aroma with a wilderness-like sweetness had already started to drift into the air.
Boiling mountain spring water was poured from a high height into the pot, causing the tea leaves to tumble and unfold, as if infused with life.
