3 Ways Anhua Tea Functioned as Money

1. The "Tea-for-Horses" Exchange

• Historical Rate: 1 jin (600g) tea = 1 Mongolian warhorse

• Military Significance: Ming Dynasty stocked border forts with tea bricks instead of coins

2. The Standardized "Bian Xiao" Bricks

• Government-Issued: Imperial seals guaranteed quality

• Denominations:
  ✓ Large brick (2kg) = Land tax payment
  ✓ Small brick (200g) = Daily marketplace use

3. The Emergency Rations

• Nutrition: 400+ calories per 100g (from fungi carbs)

• Medicinal Use: Prevented scurvy in nomadic diets

? Hold history with our Imperial Anhua Brick Replicas (molded from museum artifacts)

The Microbial Alchemy

What gave Anhua tea its trade dominance:
✓ Golden Flowers (Eurotium cristatum fungus):

• Unique to Anhua’s humidity

• Created natural "anti-counterfeit" marks
  ✓ Portability: Improves with age (unlike green tea)
  ✓ Divisibility: Chunks broken off as "small change"

Modern Discovery:
2019 lab tests found 200-year-old bricks still edible and bioactive

How to Spot Vintage Treasure

✔ Real Golden Flowers: Glow under UV light
✔ Ming/Qing Wrappers: Handmade paper with hemp fibers
✔ Salty Mineral Taste: From centuries of sweat transfer

? Test your tea’s age with our Antique Tea Authentication Service

Why Anhua Still Matters

• Financial Heritage: Inspired modern commodity markets
• Cultural Bridge: Unified Han nomadic cultures
• Survival Wisdom: Post-apocalypse food, per preppers

At Tea Teapot, we revive these legacy teas—not as relics, but as living history you can sip. Because some currencies appreciate best when steeped.