Unknown puer architecture

Xia Guan's Mushroom compressed tea. It was also known as Cow's Heart

Danny

Thanks, Jim

Thanks Danny. I see a mushroom but do the Chinese also see a cow's heart with different characters. Or did XG make the head first which might look like a heart and add the stem later for a mushroom. I make curry stews with beef heart and it doesn't remind me of a mushroom.

Jim

samarkand wrote:

Some called it 'Niu Xin Tuo' - a little confusing - a tuo-shaped tea that also looks like a cow's heart. I've never seen a cow's heart before, so I can't comment on the similarities. It also looks like a mushroom too. The tea was compressed with the mushroom head and stem together, and exported to Tibet regions.

Danny

Maybe no mushrooms in Shangri-la. Officer that's not a button but a cow's heart. I'll drop me a NinXinTuo better yet drink it.

Jim

samarkand wrote:

I've eaten a number of cow hearts (not to mention dissecting one in

7th-grade science class), as well as a few zillion mushrooms. It's hard to imagine a shape that would resemble both of them. Maybe poetic license?

-DM

Agreed, it has to be poetic license.

I was treated to a 'fungi' buffet recently with the largest assortment of mushrooms I've ever seen - among the exotic names are 'Chicken Thigh' mushrooms & 'Monkey Head' mushrooms, and then there were the regular ones such as 'Golden Needle' mushrooms, 'Cloud Ear' mushrooms...

definitely a good measure of poetic license here...

Danny

Tibetans called it a "cow heart" so that Hindu police in Himalayas would not want to take a usual percentage cut from a caravan. :)

Sasha.

...& they would provide special escort to safe guard the hearts of holy cows!

:")

Danny