Don't know where elsethat would be better to post this so... Yes, a brick of tea. Very old school to boot. Most folks in North America drink coffee - I do on occasion, but I really enjoy tea. Either black or green tea, both are good. I drink the green with nothing added, but enjoy black tea with milk or cream and a bit of sugar. From my research on the World of Chernyi books, I found that domestic tea production in North America is all but non-existent. A small company in Ore is all that I found. So, in looking at how I might have some long term storage tea, further research led me to tea bricks. Made for long tern transport and storage, this seems like the way most folks would find the easiest and least hassle for LTS. YMMV. Both black and green tea are sold in 'brick' form - in 'full' (2.2 pounds) and in a 'Half' brick (about 1 pound). It pays to shop as the price varies quite a bit by type (Green or Black) and by vendor. A full brick measures 7.5" x 9.5" x 15/16" inches. Preparing this tea is 'just like' loose leaf tea. AFTER you have grated about a teaspoon, put in a cup with 8 oz of very hot (190 -200F) water. (This tea is as hard as some woods, so be warned that effort is required to obtain your drink. ) Once the tea has colored to taste, add another 8oz of cold water to settle the tea leaves. Enjoy. Many of the vendor sites offer some bits of the history of brick tea - these were once used a currency in the past.. While often sold as a curiosity - brick tea is actually quite good. Just the same, if you are looking for LTS tea, this may offer an additional choice for dedicated tea drinkers. Another type of brick tea is Pu-erh. It is not as compressed and thus easier to flake for use. Most sites that sell this type of blocked or brick tea also have directions for brewing. I hope this post will be enough to motivate you to at least do some research on your own to see if this type of tea could be part of not only your storage program, but part of your daily diet. See also - Tea brick - Wikipedia Tranquil Tuesdays • Brick Tea Money at the Smithsonian During our... (pics of 'tea money') Tea and Coffee Trade in the American Colonies a bit if US history with tea.
I bought my first brick in Sri Lanka decades back. Totally amazed me how good it was. What is the Oregon company you found?
into tea Home Pretty fru-fru tho - all organic etc, etc. At Minto Island Tea Company, we produce certified organic, handpicked, small-batch crafted teas. All of our unique product is grown in the fertile Willamette Valley at Minto Island Growers in Western Oregon. Our story begins in 1988, when Rob Miller and John Vendeland planted an experimental half acre of Camelia sinensis, sourced from all over the world. Back then, we were hopeful that the tea plants might survive. To our great surprise, they not only survived, they thrived. With time, we have improved cultivation techniques and learned the rhythms of seasonal flushes. We have made connections and friends with many people passionate about learning the art of tea processing. So, one of the few in the US with 'farm-sized' tea produces. Lots of folks grow a few tea bushes, very few go commercial. Good for them. This did show up in the Tales of the Chernyi as part of the story line. Last I saw, nobody raises coffee on the mainland. Kona coffee - of course, is to kill for.
How about some recommended sources of supply, I looked into black brick tea a while ago, and for some reason or another I didn't pursue it. Rancher
Awesome! We special order our tea from Kiyyv, takes about a month, but the price is really good and no restrictions. About 2.4 pound brick of black tea will run about $40 a brick! Will see if I can find an English translation sight if any are interested Love out tea here! And we are going to see about Minto Island, as they are very close to where were staying!
I love tea, drink it everyday. I have boxes of Lipton stored, not my preferred brand but it was on sale, plus tea bags are good for medicinal uses. Brick tea sounds very interesting. I checked out the Minto Island Tea Company, who bought all the tea? It is all sold out.
I have hundreds of tea bags vacuum sealed in a freezer. I have owned tea bricks for display but found them too hard to use, but then if that's all I had I would sure do it. Very efficient storage choice.
I agree that it would be easy storage but why hard to use @T. Riley? was it having to chop it up? @Ganado showed me this place but it mainly sells loose tea. Bulk Wholesale Herbs & Spices Suppliers | San Francisco Herb Distributors but I noticed they have Pu-erh Tuo Cha Tea (Mini Cakes)
@DKR I don't drink coffee, I know, very un-American, but I picked up the tea habit in the UK long ago. I drink two cups every morning with a drop of milk, and sometimes one in the evening. I find it does not wire me like coffee, and even drink a cup sometimes before I go to bed as relaxes me, I know strange but so am I so... I keep at least 3 boxes on hand for use in the pantry (wife is picking up some today), and probably another 3-5 in the freezer (like @T. Riley ) in a vacuumed sealed bags. I have never messed with the brick stuff, guess it's the American in me as like to simply grab a bag and plop it into a cup or pot. BTW I drink Tetley as find the Lipton and other stuff sold here to be crap, simply isn't a good black tea - and - I am very fussy about my tea. The wife likes Green Tea and I have heard it is very healthy but don't care for it myself. However, her tea is loose, but I don't mess with it... In fact, all this talk about it, I think I will go wild and have a third cup this morning...LOL!
Portlandia yuppies. No tea? Because their acreage isn't. They have less an an acre under cultivation.
Yes, for LTS. Day to day use can be a PITA, no doubt. Using a wood rasp (clean of course) to grind off a couple of day worth of tea is not all that big a deal, but then I'm semi-retired. My son drinks Chi tea, something he picked on his tours in El-Anber Iraq. Too wild for me!
Loose ain't so bad if you have one of these. Should also work with brick filings, dunno what happened to my grannie's. Not much of a tea drinker these days, but a few gallons of chai have passed thru. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1S14AI/?tag=survivalmonke-20
Yes, when they call it a brick, that's what it is and that hard. It was compress in ancient time by each distributer to save shipping space. The impressions on the bricks are quite artistic with some considered art work and each unique to the distributer, kind of like a seal or label to certify quality. My mother in law has hers displayed on a buffet using a plate stand. I never tried a wood rasp, but that makes sense. Do you know what the equivalent in loose tea or tea bags a one pound brick would be, as in how many cups?
100 tea bags weight in at about 8oz. I think the bag is at least 1/3 of the weight. So - 100 cups = 6 to 7 oz? Much depends on how you brew the tea as well. At 16 oz/pound, you are going to get close to 250 cups. GOOD Commercial bagged tea is (sorta) cheap. Brick tea, not quite as much. I'm looking at this as a storage item - like freeze dry only just dry and in a brick.... BTW - the wood rasp used has both coarse and fine ends, so I can grate the tea to be quite fine. MAke a 'working edge' with the coarse, then use the fine to grate off enuf for 2 or 3 cups. Brick goes back into zip-lock. Looks like this:
I ordered a brick (2.47 pounds @$39) to give it another go. Unlike coffee, tea leaves can be steeped more than once, just longer the second time. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009LQFQ4O/?tag=survivalmonke-20
The Minto Island folks are nice, but yeah, yuppies out to show classical farmers how it's done. They run out of everything quickly because they are a small stead. I can say that if you can't afford their CSA, they will offer to let you work at the stand to pay for it. I like them.
Negative! That's a Chain ( sort of like Starbucks) based in Germany, but it's prettt good stuff. I'll try and find an English translation of the sight. I'm not sure they have an one. I may have to translate for You! Easy enough!
google will translate it fer ya it might contain some errors though typically the errors will not affect the functionality of the site too much
