Tea bricks (simplified Chinese: 砖茶; traditional Chinese: 磚茶; pinyin: zhuān chá) or compressed tea (simplified Chinese: 紧压茶; traditional Chinese: 緊壓茶; pinyin: jǐnyā chá) are blocks of whole or finely ground black tea, green tea, or post-fermented tea leaves that have been packed in molds and pressed into block form. This was the most commonly produced and used form of tea in ancient China prior to the Ming Dynasty.