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TeaWiki > Dark tea
Dark tea Category: Teas Version: 1.001 Last modified: 06/30/2007 16:24 PST Dark tea is a relatively unknown form of tea in the west, but is a vital part of the diet of the Tibetan people. It is a Chinese tea made with mature leaves that are lightly steamed and allowed to ferment naturally. Aspergillus and penicillin molds are allowed to grow on the leaves which is why this is considered a medicinal tea. The leaves are then compressed into bricks for export to Tibet, Mongolia, and the Uyghur people of northwestern China. The Tibetans believe it helps aid digestion and lower blood pressure, while providing the necessary vitamins they would normally receive from fruits and vegetables. As an essential part of the Tibetan diet, it is consumned daily with the understanding that 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) of tea per year is the required amount for good health. Outside Tibet, this tea is often found in pill form, which can contain around 4g of the compressed tea. The tea can usually be removed from the pill and infused several times.
Produced in Ya'an, China since the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD), this historic tea was once traded along the "Tea Horse Road" from Ya'an, China to Lhasa, Tibet, a distance of over 1,000 kilometers across high mountain passes.
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