Tea

Tea is the stuff of life in Oyashima, served at all meals and most ceremonies, offered as gifts and offerings to the gods, and intensely traded, debated, and coveted.

Tea is priced out in the market in ounces, quarter-pounds, and pounds. A pound of tea makes roughly 150 cups. Prices below are typical for one-pound bricks of tea in a major city like Edo or Sapporo, but may fluctuate based on supply and demand. The vast majority of tea is grown in the Shou Lung empire or further south in Sindhu.

Broken Pekoe - 3 mon - A low grade of tea that still gets the job done.

Oolong - 8 mon - A "blue-green" tea regarded as sweet.

Matcha - 2 yen - Finely ground green-tea powder.

Pu'er - 4 yen - Known as "red tea" - fermented and aged. Price varies by vintage, and can exceed 30 yen for rare and desired years and regions.

Golden Flowery Pekoe - 8 yen - Young tips and buds picked early in a season, famed for its delicacy.

Lapsang Souchong - 15 yen - A luxury tea, smoke-dried over pinewood fires.

White Tea - 30 yen - The least-processed grade of tea, made from the youngest buds.