Compressed tea

Tea Bricks are blocks of whole or finely ground tea leaves that have been packed in molds and pressed into block form. This is the form of tea most commonly produced and used in ancient China prior to the Ming Dynasty. Teas bricks can be made into beverages, eaten as a source of food, and also used as a form of currency. Pu-erh tea is still commonly found in tea brick form.

Production

The tea leaves varied widely in quality from the use of twigs and mature leaves in coarse grade tea bricks to the use of pekoes for the production of high grade tea bricks. Harvested tea leaves are either partially dried and pressed into bricks as whole leaves or thoroughly dried and ground before being pressed into bricks. Newly formed tea bricks are then left to cure, dry, and age before being sold or traded. In the past, some tea bricks were mixed with binding agents such as blood and manure in order to preserve their form such that they can withstand physical use as currency. Tea bricks are still currently manufactured for drinking, as in Pu-erh tea, as well as for souvenirs and as novelty items.

Consuming Tea Bricks

Due to their density and toughness tea bricks were traditionally consumed after they have been ground to a fine powder. The legacy of using of tea bricks in powdered form can be seen through modern Japanese tea powders as well as the Lai Cha eaten by the Hakka people of Taiwan.

Beverage

In ancient China the use of tea bricks involved 3 separate steps:

• Toasting: Tea bricks are usually first toasted over a fire. This is likely done to sanitize the tea brick and destroy any molds or insects. Such infestation occur since the bricks were stored openly in warehouses and storerooms or in covered jar underground. Toasting may also imparted a pleasant flavor to the resulting tea.
• Grinding: The tea brick was broken up and ground to a fine powder.
• Whisking: The powdered tea is mixed into hot water and frothed with a whisk before serving. The colour and patterns formed by the powdered tea is enjoyed while the mixture is being imbibed.

In modern times, bricks of Pu-erh type teas are broken and directly steeped after rinsing without going through the process of toasting, grinding or whisking.

Food

Tea bricks are used as a form of food in parts of Central Asia and Tibet in the past as much as in modern times. In Tibet pieces of tea are shaved from tea bricks, boiled in water, and the resulting infusion is then mixed with butter and flour. This mixture, call butter tea, is formed into balls and eaten. In parts of Mongolian, a mixture of ground tea bricks, grain flours and boiling water is eaten directly. It has been suggested that tea eaten whole provide for needed ruffage in their diet.

Tea Bricks as Currency

Due to the high value of tea in many parts of Asia, tea bricks were used as a form of currency throughout China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Central Asia. This is quite similar to use of Salt bricks as currency in parts of Africa. Up until World War II, tea bricks were still used as a form of edible currency.