During a tea expo visit, we discovered this huge tea brick in yak skin. It's supposed to be over 50 years old and we wanted to try it out badly, but the exhibitor wouldn't allow. As we were curious about the price, we just asked. "For just 180.000 RMB (26.500 USD) this tea is yours," said the exhibitor. We told him we would think about it ;)
Yak, a cattle specie, is an important part of the Tibetan economy. The locals consume yak meat and produce the well-known yak butter. The latter is also used to make yak butter tea. What's less known is that in the past the skin was also used to pack tea bricks.
Originally tea was packed in bamboo for transportation, but that often resulted in cuts and grazes on the back of the horse. Luckily there was an abundance of yak skin and that's why people utilised it for wrapping the tea bricks.