Editing Tea (section)

=== Compressed tea ===

[[File:Xiaguan Te Ji Tuo Cha 2004.jpg|thumb|Sheng (raw) [[pu-erh]] ''[[tuo cha]]'', a type of compressed aged raw pu-erh]]
[[Tea brick]]s or compressed tea are produced for convenience in transport, storage, and ageing. It can usually be stored longer without spoilage than loose leaf tea. Compressed tea is prepared by loosening leaves from the cake using a small knife, and steeping the extracted pieces in water. During the Tang dynasty, as described by Lu Yu, compressed tea was ground into a powder, combined with hot water, and ladled into bowls, resulting in a "frothy" mixture.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=50}} In the [[Song dynasty]], the tea powder would instead be whisked with hot water in the bowl. Although no longer practiced in China today, the whisking method of preparing powdered tea was transmitted to Japan by [[Zen]] [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monks, and is still used to prepare [[matcha]] in the [[Japanese tea ceremony]].{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=62}} Chinese [[Pu'er tea|pu-erh]] is often distributed in the form, as other teas may sometimes be.

Compressed tea was the most popular form of tea in China during the Tang dynasty.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=48}} By the beginning of the Ming dynasty, it had been displaced by loose-leaf tea.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=110}} It remains popular, however, in the Himalayan countries and Mongolian steppes. In Mongolia, tea bricks were ubiquitous enough to be used as a form of currency. Among Himalayan peoples, compressed tea is consumed by combining it with [[yak butter]] and salt to produce [[butter tea]].{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=124–36}}