Observations and Reflections on a Tea Brick from Fuzhou
Of all the tea bricks at MAA, only one is embossed with the image of a dragon. What are the multiple meanings of this important Chinese symbol in this context, and what is its relationship to the tea brick?
30 May 2023
Lady Schuster’s Tibetan Tea
A collection was donated to MAA in 1947 by a Lady Schuster. But nothing is known about her nor the contexts in which her collection of tea objects was assembled. Who was she?
11 April 2023
Brick Tea as a Form of Currency
In a previous blog post on this object, I pursued one of the clues found on its label to show that it was a product of the Russian brick tea trade in China. In this one, we look at how it functioned as currency.
20 December 2022
A Tea Brick Destined for Tibet
Ever tried to guess the flavour of tea just from looking at leaves or bricks, and without brewing them? Or even just from photographs of them? Come explore one example from the collections at MAA with me.
6 December 2022
Russian Brick Tea Trade in Hankou, China
An encounter with a Russian monogram on a tea brick from China leads to a wider exploration of the industrial production of tea bricks by Russian factories in Hankou, and their transnational trade.
6 December 2022
