Tteokcha (Korean Pressed)
Tteokcha, literally 'rice-cake tea,' is one of Korea's oldest tea forms: leaves steamed, pounded, and pressed into small cakes or coins, then dried and aged. The coin-shaped versions are also called don cha, or 'money tea.' It is a pressed, keepable tea that nearly died out and has been revived by a handful of artisans, so authenticity and the maker are what matter most.
Tteokcha is a small revival craft, so the maker and careful handling matter more than any fixed flavor benchmark. Look for cleanly pressed cakes or coins, an absence of musty or sour notes, and a smooth, mellow cup. Traditional preparation roasts the cake before brewing, which shapes the flavor as much as the leaf does. Because the category spans greener pressed styles through to more fermented and aged ones, ask the maker what you actually have rather than assuming a single profile.
Tteokcha is a traditional Korean pressed tea with roots reaching back to the Goryeo era and earlier, historically made in tea regions across the south of the Korean peninsula. The leaf is steamed and pounded to a paste, shaped into cakes or holed coins (which were strung together for storage), then dried; depending on the maker it may be aged or fermented to varying degrees. It is a craft revival today rather than a standardized commercial product.
Gongfu: 6-8 g per 100 ml, 95-100°C, a quick rinse, then 10-20 second steeps extending gradually. Western: 4-5 g per 250 ml, 95-100°C, 3-4 minutes. The cakes are dense and need breaking. Traditionally a coin is first roasted over a flame, then decocted or boiled, sometimes with ginger, rather than steeped briefly.
€20-80 (about $22-87) per 100 g; a hand-made revival tea that carries artisanal, not commodity, pricing.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Hadong Heukcha (Korean Wild Dark)
Both are small Korean craft dark teas; tteokcha is the pressed-and-pounded cake form, heukcha the loose post-fermented style.
Liu Bao
Liu Bao is a mature, commercial Chinese basket-aged dark tea; tteokcha is a revived Korean pressed form made in tiny quantities.
Young Shou (1-5 years)
Ripe puerh is pressed and dark at industrial scale in Yunnan; tteokcha is a hand-pounded Korean cake from a very different, older pressing tradition.
Anhua Dark Tea
Anhua's qian liang logs and bricks are China's big pressed dark teas; tteokcha is Korea's small pounded-cake counterpart, an unrelated lineage.
Tteokcha coins were traditionally made with a hole through the middle so they could be strung together like cash, which is why the small round version is also known as don cha, or 'money tea,' and was sometimes prepared by toasting the coin over a fire before it was boiled.