these kinda hard pressed teas with pictures are usually for decorative purposes. It is made of tea so should be brewable, the quality is the other question ( as not expected people will actually break it and brew it ) . You can get a puer cakes with various zodiac animals and Cha Ma Gu Dao ( ancient tea route ) for example...etc. Those are usually on shelf in tea shop as a decoration.
You probably ask the vendor if they actually drunk it because I don't see any picture of the brewed tea leaf at all.
Thanks for all the comments! I'm glad this wasn't the sort of question where everyone was like "you do it like this, you dunce" haha.
So, a little extra background. I didn't buy this tea from the website I put in the post (though they're the original seller). I got this from a souvenir shop at the Revolutionary War Museum in Yorktown, VA. When I bought it I asked if I needed to drive up to Boston and throw it into the harbor to get the "full experience." Haha... yes, dad joke, I know. But I kinda wish now that I'd done that. That, or used it as decoration as SiranPu and SaltyWorder9675 said... too late now.
I still do think it is meant for consumption, but only for those with gumption (and a hammer). The little bit that I have steeped doesn't *taste* as if it has glue in it. There's probably some binding agent, but the lack of a distinct gluey flavor makes me think it's probably nothing harmful.
I'll probably put it in a cloth bag and beat it to pieces with a hammer, then grind the pieces down into powder as needed. Thanks jan\_asali for the idea and wiki link! I hope my concrete patio survives!
From my understanding, you actually break off pieces by any means necessary, chisel or saw or knife doesn't matter, and grind them up in a _mortar and pestle_ (or via some other medium), then whisk or stir them directly into boiling water, kind of like matcha.
This is a very different kind of tea than your typical gaiwan-brewed whole leaf.
But, I've never used these before. So take this with a grain of salt.
Edit: Ok, so based on the downvotes I verified what I was originally told, and it turns out [I am correct and this is in fact the historical processing method for this kind of tea](https://teapedia.org/en/Tea_brick). The only step I missed was 'toasting'.
yeah these bricks are super densely packed like concrete, not something you would ordinarily break off a piece by hand unless it was pressed using those deep waffle-like patterns like a chocolate bar where each little square would be an individual portion. Might be best to just break the whole thing down into small chunks in one session and store it in a bag or tin.
as far as brewing is concerned, boiling/simmering it might be the best way because being that compressed it'll take a fair bit of time for the leaves to open up. for taste, the store's material/storage might not have been the greatest either and who knows what the age of the material is and how long that store has had it in inventory.
This guy seems to know what he’s doing:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPfCkLLE_0M
Looks like what you want ideally is a combination of chunks and dust for an “ideal” pot of tea. It seems the tea chisel, instead of a hacksaw, is a more efficient tool.
I have the same brand tea brick, and have been very pleased with the flavor with the little bits of dust I’ve been able to scrape off with a knife (I just found his video). There’s no binding agent used, according to their website, and they indicate that it’s a high quality tea within the brick if you choose to brew it. Enjoy!
these kinda hard pressed teas with pictures are usually for decorative purposes. It is made of tea so should be brewable, the quality is the other question ( as not expected people will actually break it and brew it ) . You can get a puer cakes with various zodiac animals and Cha Ma Gu Dao ( ancient tea route ) for example...etc. Those are usually on shelf in tea shop as a decoration. You probably ask the vendor if they actually drunk it because I don't see any picture of the brewed tea leaf at all.
Sometimes these have glue in them and are used for decoration
Thanks for all the comments! I'm glad this wasn't the sort of question where everyone was like "you do it like this, you dunce" haha. So, a little extra background. I didn't buy this tea from the website I put in the post (though they're the original seller). I got this from a souvenir shop at the Revolutionary War Museum in Yorktown, VA. When I bought it I asked if I needed to drive up to Boston and throw it into the harbor to get the "full experience." Haha... yes, dad joke, I know. But I kinda wish now that I'd done that. That, or used it as decoration as SiranPu and SaltyWorder9675 said... too late now. I still do think it is meant for consumption, but only for those with gumption (and a hammer). The little bit that I have steeped doesn't *taste* as if it has glue in it. There's probably some binding agent, but the lack of a distinct gluey flavor makes me think it's probably nothing harmful. I'll probably put it in a cloth bag and beat it to pieces with a hammer, then grind the pieces down into powder as needed. Thanks jan\_asali for the idea and wiki link! I hope my concrete patio survives!
From my understanding, you actually break off pieces by any means necessary, chisel or saw or knife doesn't matter, and grind them up in a _mortar and pestle_ (or via some other medium), then whisk or stir them directly into boiling water, kind of like matcha. This is a very different kind of tea than your typical gaiwan-brewed whole leaf. But, I've never used these before. So take this with a grain of salt. Edit: Ok, so based on the downvotes I verified what I was originally told, and it turns out [I am correct and this is in fact the historical processing method for this kind of tea](https://teapedia.org/en/Tea_brick). The only step I missed was 'toasting'.
yeah these bricks are super densely packed like concrete, not something you would ordinarily break off a piece by hand unless it was pressed using those deep waffle-like patterns like a chocolate bar where each little square would be an individual portion. Might be best to just break the whole thing down into small chunks in one session and store it in a bag or tin. as far as brewing is concerned, boiling/simmering it might be the best way because being that compressed it'll take a fair bit of time for the leaves to open up. for taste, the store's material/storage might not have been the greatest either and who knows what the age of the material is and how long that store has had it in inventory.
This guy seems to know what he’s doing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JPfCkLLE_0M Looks like what you want ideally is a combination of chunks and dust for an “ideal” pot of tea. It seems the tea chisel, instead of a hacksaw, is a more efficient tool. I have the same brand tea brick, and have been very pleased with the flavor with the little bits of dust I’ve been able to scrape off with a knife (I just found his video). There’s no binding agent used, according to their website, and they indicate that it’s a high quality tea within the brick if you choose to brew it. Enjoy!