Jeff, Amanda, and Clayton v. Tea

To begin our saga of the Tea...Jeff, Clayton and I set out into the East market in search of an alarm clock for me, a tea thermos for Clayton, and maybe some sharper kitchen knives for us all. First we found my alarm clock..which I purchased for a whopping 5 yuan (about $0.62), it looks like a little change purse hahaha
Then Clayton decided he wanted to find this Chinese tea he really likes...so we wandered into this little tea shop. Well we quickly realized we had no idea what to do in a tea shop, how to buy tea, how much a good price should be, etc...so we quickly left and walked further down the street. However, on the way back a guy around our age ran out of the store and said hello to us. He spoke some English and managed to convey to us that he wanted to help us in the tea shop. I assume he was related to the owners, a nice man and woman. They sat us down and showed us different teas, let us smell them, and even gave us samples. They also showed us beautiful artwork, tea reliefs, framed and all made out of super pressed tea!
After sampling the tea we decided that really liked it, and also felt slightly obligated to buy some...so we purchased one "wheel" of tea and figured we could split it between the three of us...

Here it is wrapped in paper


The paper says:
Yunnan Chitsu pingcha (also called Yuancha) is manufactured from puerhcha, a tea of world wide fame. Through a process of optimum fermentation and high temperature steaming and pressing. It affords a bright red-yellowish liquid with pure aroma and fine taste and is characterised by a sweet after taste all its own. Drink a cup of this, and you will find it very refreshing and thirst-quenching. It also aids your digestion and quickens your recovery from fatigue or intoxication.

However...what we did not realize was that the "wheel" o tea is ROCK SOLID! I'm talking bang on the floor still not going to break rock solid!! After failing to 1. cut it into three pieces 2. bang on it with a ping-pong paddle to break it 3. hammer a nail into it with a ping-pong paddle...we decided to wrap it in 3 plastic bags and take it outside to throw at the cement ground!
First I took a shot...managed to break off a corner!

Then Jeff took a try...he managed to break it in half




Then it was Clayton's turn....

Turns out Clayton was too much man for the tea...he ripped a hole through all 3 plastic bags!! But by this time the tea was pretty much broken into pieces we could divide between us...who knew tea could be such a challenge! I'm sure if the nice guy at the tea shop knew what we did to the tea he would shudder...but hey we're stupid westerners so it's all good! :)

And so ends the Saga of the Tea