I am very happy to offer you this exclusive: dried miang from Monsoon Tea .
For those unfamiliar with miang (or hmiang ) in Thailand, or laphet in Myanmar, it is most certainly the ancestor of drinking tea, the tea eaten. It is produced through lacto-fermentation, a kind of tea sauerkraut: fresh tea leaves are steamed and kept pressed in sealed bamboo tubes until anaerobic fermentation (from a few days to several months) produces a compact cake with a balance between acidity and astringency reminiscent of sorrel.
This one comes from traditional miang which has been dehydrated to allow storage at room temperature, and thus to discover it more easily, the fresh one having to be kept in the refrigerator.
You can consume it like tea by brewing it. And above all, don't throw away the leaves once they've brewed; they'll be rehydrated, and you'll have fresh miang !
It can be used as a condiment mixed with garlic, ginger, chili, oil and vinegar to season salads or to prepare a pesto-type spreadable paste, a revisited way of using fresh miang .
I also incorporated the infused leaves into an omelet by quickly frying them in oil before adding the eggs; the result was delicious.
I recommend watching this documentary which explains the origin and future challenges for miang : Seeds of Discovery - Eating Miang? - The Tradition of Thai Miang
