tea brick - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A compressed brick ofpu-erhtea . Individual leaves
can be seen on the surface of the brick.
Tea brickFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tea bricks(simplified Chinese:; traditional
Chinese:; pinyin:zhun ch) or compressed tea
(simplified Chinese:; traditional Chinese:
; pinyin:jny ch) areblocks of whole or finely
ground black tea, green tea, or post-fermented tea
leaves that have been packed in molds and pressed into
block form. This was the most commonly produced and
used form of tea in ancient China prior to the Ming
Dynasty. Although tea bricks are less commonly
produced in modern times, many post-fermented teas,
such aspu-erh, are still commonly found in bricks,
discs, and other pressed forms. Tea bricks can be made
into beverages or eatenas food, and were also used in
the past as a form of currency.
Contents
1 Production
2 Consumption
2.1 Beverage
2.2 Food
3 Use as currency4 Health effects
5 References
5.1 Notes
5.2 Sources
6 External links
Production
In ancient China, compressed teas were usually madewith thoroughly dried and ground tea leaves that were
pressed into various bricks or othershapes, although partially dried and whole leaves were also used. Some tea
bricks were also mixed with binding agents such as flour, blood, or manure to better preserve their form so they
could withstand physical use as currency.[1]Newly formed tea bricks were then left to cure, dry, and age prior
to being sold or traded. Tea bricks were preferred in trade prior to the 19th century in Asia since they were
more compact than loose leaf tea and were also less susceptible to physical damage incurred through
transportation over land by caravans on the Ancient tea route.
Tea bricks are still currently manufactured for drinking, as inpu-erhteas, as well as for souvenirs and novelty
items, though most compressed teas produced in modern times are usually made from whole leaves. Thecompressed tea can take various traditional forms, many of them still being produced. A dome-shaped nugget o
100g (standard size) is simply called tuch(), which is translated several ways, sometimes as "bird's nest
tea" or "bowl tea." A small dome-shaped nugget with a dimple underneath just enough to make one pot or cup
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of tea is called axio tuch(; the first word meaning "small") which usually weighs 3g5g. A larger
piece around 375g, which may be a disc with a dimple, is called bngch(, literally "biscuit tea" or "cake
tea"). A large, flat, square brick is calledfngch(, literally "square tea").
To produce a tea brick, ground or whole tea is first steamed, then placed into one of a number of types of press
and compressed into a solid form. Such presses may leave an intended imprint on the tea, such as an artistic
design or simply the pattern of the cloth with which the tea was pressed. Many powdered tea bricks are
moistened with rice water in pressing to assure that the tea powder sticks together. The pressed blocks of tea
are then left to dry in storage until a suitable degree of moisture has evaporated.
Ya'an is the main market for a special kind of tea which is grown in this part of the country and
exported in very large quantities to Tibet via Kangting and over the caravan routes through Batang
(Paan) and Teko. Although the Chinese regard it as an inferior product, it is greatly esteemed by
the Tibetans for its powerful flavor, which harmonizes particularly well with that of the rancid yak's
butter which they mix with their tea. Brick tea comprises not only what we call tea leaves, but also
the coarser leaves and some of the twigs of the shrub, as well as the leaves and fruit of other plants
and trees (the alder, for instance). This amalgam is steamed, weighed, and compressed into hard
bricks, which are packed up in coarse matting in subunits of four. These rectangular parcels weighbetween twenty-two and twenty-six poundsthe quality of the tea makes a slight difference to the
weightand are carried to Kangting by coolies. A long string of them, moving slowly under their
monstrous burdens of tea, was a familiar sight along the road I followed.[2]
The brick tea is packaged [in Kangting] either in the courtyard or in the street outside, and it is
quite a complicated process. When the coolies bring it in from Ya'an, it has to be repacked before
being consigned upcountry, for in a coolie's load the standard subunit is four bricks lashed
together, and these would be the wrong shape for animal transport. So they are first cut in two,
then put together in lots of three, leaving what they call agam, which is half a yak's load. Tea
which is going to be consumed reasonably soon is done up in a loose case of matting, but thegams, which are bound for remote destinations, perhaps even forLhasa, are sewn up in yakhides.
These hides are not tanned but are merely dried in the sun; when used for packing they are soaked
in water to make them pliable and then sewn very tightly around the load, and when they dry out
again the tea is enclosed in a container which is as hard as wood and is completely unaffected by
rain, hard knocks, or immersion in streams. The Tibetan packers are a special guild of craftsmen,
readily identifiable by the powerful aroma of untanned leather which they exude.
Another prominent guild in Kangting is that of the women tea coolies who shift the stuff from the
warehouses to the inns where the caravans start. They have a monopoly on this work and the
cheerful gangs of girls are a picturesque element in the city's life. They need to be immensely strongto do a job which consists of carrying over a short distance anything up to an entire yak's load
several times a day. Many of them are quite pretty (and well aware of the fact); they look very gay
and rather brazen as, giggling and chattering among themselves, they move along with their heavy
burdens, which are held in place by a woolen girdle around the chest.[3]
Consumption
Due to their density and toughness tea bricks were consumed after they were break into small pieces and boiled
while traditionally in Tang Dynasty, they were consumed after they have been ground to a fine powder. Thelegacy of using of tea bricks in powdered form can be seen through modern Japanese tea powders as well as
the pulverized tea leaves used in the lei cha() eaten by the Hakka people.
Beverage
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A brick of Hubei m zhan ch(), made ofpowdered black tea
In ancient China the use of tea bricks involved three separate steps:
1. Toasting: A piece was broken from the tea brick and usually first toasted over a fire. This was probably
done to sanitize the tea brick and destroy any mold or insect infestation that may have occurred when the
bricks were stored uncovered in warehouses and storerooms or in covered jars underground. Toasting
also imparted a pleasant flavor to the resulting beverage.
2. Grinding: The toasted tea brick was broken up
and ground to a fine powder.3. Whisking: The powdered tea was mixed into hot
water and frothed with a whisk before serving.
The color and patterns formed by the powdered
tea were enjoyed while the mixture was being
drunk.
In modern times bricks ofpu-erhtype teas are flaked,
chipped, or broken and directly steeped after thorough
rinsing; the process of toasting, grinding, and whisking to
make tea from tea bricks has become uncommon.
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 broken from tea bricks, and
boiled overnight in water, sometimes with salt. The
resulting concentrated tea infusion is then mixed with
butter, cream or milk and a little salt to make butter tea,
a staple of Tibetan cuisine.[1]
The tea mixed with tsampais called Pah. Individual
portions of the mixture are kneaded in a small bowl, formed into balls and eaten. Some cities of the Fukui
prefecture in Japan have food similar to tsampa, where concentrated tea is mixed with grain flour. However, the
tea may or may not be made of tea bricks.
In parts of Mongolia and central Asia, a mixture of ground tea bricks, grain flours and boiling water is eaten
directly. It has been suggested that tea eaten whole provides needed roughage normally lacking in the diet.
Use 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 the use of salt bricks as currency in parts of Africa.
Tea bricks were in fact the preferred form of currency over metallic coins for the nomads of Mongolia and
Siberia. The tea could not only be used as money and eaten as food in times of hunger but also brewed as
allegedly beneficial medicine for treating coughs and colds. Until World War II, tea bricks were still used as a
form of edible currency in Siberia.[1]
Tea bricks for Tibet were mainly produced in the area of Ya'an (formerly Yachou-fu) in Sichuan province. Thebricks were produced in five different qualities and valued accordingly. The kind of brick which was most
commonly used as currency in the late 19th and early 20th century was that of the third quality which the
Tibetans called "brgyad pa" ("eighth"), because at one time it was worth eight Tibetan tangkas (standard silver
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A brick of tea presented to Tzar Nicholas II, 1891
coin of Tibet which weighs about 5.4 grams) in Lhasa. Bricks of this standard were also exported by Tibet to
Bhutan andLadakh.[4]
Healtheffects
All tea planttissues accumulate fluorine to some extent, tea bricks that are made from old tea leaves and stems
can accumulate large amounts of this element, which can make them unsafe for consumption in large quantities
or over prolonged periods. Use of such teas has led to fluorosis, a form of fluoride poisoning that affects the
bones andteeth, in areas of high brick tea consumption such as Tibet.[5]
Pu-erhandother teas are claimed to have many
beneficial effects on health.[6]
References
Notes
1. ^ abcBressett, Ken (August 2001). "Tea Money of
China"
(http://www.charm.ru/coins/misc/teamoney.shtml).
2. ^Migot, Andr (1955). Tibetan Marches. Translated
by Peter Fleming. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., U.S.A.,
pp. 59-60.
3. ^Migot, Andr (1955). Tibetan Marches. Translated
by Peter Fleming. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., U.S.A.,
pp. 83-84.
4. ^Wolfgang Bertsch, 2006 The Use of Tea Bricks asCurrency among the Tibetans (- Der Gebrauch von
Teeziegeln als Zahlungsmittel bei den Tibetern" Der
Primitivgeldsammler), Europische Vereinigung zum
Erforschen, Sammeln und Bewahren von
ursprnglichen und auergewhnlichen Geldformen
(European Association for the Research, Collection
andPreservation of Original and Curious Money),
No.75
5. ^Cao, Jin; Zhao, Yan; Liu, Jianwei; Xirao, Ruoden;
Danzeng, Sangbu; Daji, Dawei; Yan, Yu (2003).
"Bricktea fluoride as a main source of adult fluorosis".Food and Chemical Toxicology41(4): 53542.doi:10.1016/S0278-6915(02)00285-5 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0278-6915%2802%2900285-5).
PMID12615125 (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12615125).
6. ^[1](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=pu-erh)
Sources
Bertsch, Wolfgang (2006) The Use of Tea Bricks as Currency among the Tibetans ("Der Gebrauch
vonTeeziegeln als Zahlungsmittel bei den Tibetern"), Der Primitivgerldsammler. Europische
Vereinigung zum Erforschen, Sammeln und Bewahren von ursprnglichen und auergewhnlichen
Geldformen (European Association for the Research, Collection and Preservation of Original and CuriousMoney), No. 75, Rsselsheim. This article was also published in the Tibet Journaland is available as
website:[2] (http://ltwa.tibetanbridges.com/tibet_journal/Summer-2009/Wolfgang.pdf)
Cao,J.; Zhao, Y.; Liu, J.W. (1998). "Safety evaluation and fluorine concentration of pu'er brick tea and
http://ltwa.tibetanbridges.com/tibet_journal/Summer-2009/Wolfgang.pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=pu-erhhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12615125http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PubMed_Identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0278-6915%2802%2900285-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Migothttp://www.charm.ru/coins/misc/teamoney.shtmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorosishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzar_Nicholas_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russiantea1.jpg -
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bianxiao brick tea".Food and Chemical Toxicology36(12): 10613. doi:10.1016/S0278-
6915(98)00087-8 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0278-6915%2898%2900087-8). PMID 9862647
(//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9862647).
Cao, J.; Zhao, Y.; Liu, J. (1997). "Brick tea consumption as the cause of dental fluorosis among children
from Mongol, Kazak and Yugu populations in China".Food and Chemical Toxicology35(8): 82733.
doi:10.1016/S0278-6915(97)00049-5 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0278-6915%2897%2900049-
5). PMID 9350228 (//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9350228).
Yishi, Chen; Fanzhou, Chen (1990). "A Survey of Export of Yunnan Tea for Tibet". Tibet Studies.Journal of the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences2(1): 15467.
"History of Tea: China" (http://www.gol27.com/HistoryTeaChina.html)
National Palace Museum Exhibition Brochure "Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: the Culture, Practice
and Art of Tea" Taiwan 2002 (http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh91/tea9107/english/index.htm)
Jordan, Reinhold (1975). "Ein Beitrag zum Teeziegelgeld".Die Mnze6(112): 24850.
Rosthorn, Arthur de (1895): On the Tea Cultivation in Western Ssuchuan and the Trade with Tibet via
Tachienlu. Luzac & Co., London, 1895.
Sigler, O. Phares (January 1950). "Brick Tea Money".Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine16(1): 814.
Wang, Ling (2003). Chinese tea culture. Pelanduk. ISBN 967-978-778-8.
External links
Tea Money of China. Ken Bressett. (http://www.charm.ru/coins/misc/teamoney.shtml)
Tibetan Butter Tea Recipe by YoWangdu (http://www.yowangdu.com/tibet/tibetan-food-recipes/po-
chu.html)
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Categories: Currencies of Asia Tea Tea culture Alternative currencies
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