A Different Form of Money

It's older but it's called Chinese Tea Money. Super compressed tea leaves in blocks. 16 blocks on a sheet.

 

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That's pretty awesome! Did people actually use those for buying stuff?

(Also, have you ever thought about making yourself a nice cup of tea with that? lol)

 

That is so cool! thanks for sharing!

 

Looks like tea rations?

 

Better not drop one of those in the gutter on accident, dont think it would be as salvageable as a coin...

 

In modern (and Ancient) China, tea was/is often used as a form of "payment," in that it was an excellent bribery tool.

Want your kid to get into that top school? A gift of a $20k block of tea serves the same purpose as a cash bribe; that $20k value remains and can be re-bribed later at the same par value.

 

Well, we all know how dirty coins get, being in everyone's dirty soiled sweaty pockets. I wouldn't want to make a cup of tea out it.

 

Alex, I'll take tea leaves for $500 please.

 

This is the type of tea was what was dumped in Boston harbor.
it is so compacted that one brick of tea like this would supply a family for quite some time.

This is why the cost of the Boston Tea Party is so high, because what they tossed were bricks similar to these!

-your New Englander friend

 

I hope it's Oolong Tea!

 

Most likely, very stale.

 

They do both, use it for money and shave it a little to make tea.

 

And that's a fact. Tea was a highly coveted extravagance/commodity in the early part of U.S. history. It was usually locked in a box in rich folks homes. Pineapples pretty much the same, a real luxury and also why so many incorporated the pineapple into various aspects of the design and construction of their homes. It was a sign of wealth for both items to be had in the day.

 

Heavens no. These are actually quite heavy. The tea leaves are really compacted.

 

Ah, someone that knows history!

 

That would be nice.

 

You know your history as well.

 

The Chinese and the British used to trade opium for tea.

 

A common misconception in the Sherlock Holmes tales were that he used opium but that was not true. He used a solution of cocaine.

 

I was a lonely child, so I had plenty of time to read.