Yor Tea Cake Press

Near Yben Fortress are the tea fields of Yor. They produce a large portion of the tea consumed in the Aswarian Empire. For this tea to travel farther afield, the growers came up with a way of drying and pressing the leaves into a sort of cake. Over longer distances the tea holds it's flavour better and is preserved for longer. In order to produce the amounts of tea cakes they now make, they had to come up with a better way than by hand. Some boutiques still use old fashioned wooden presses, but many of the bigger places have switched to the new multi cake presses which can press more cakes simultaneously.

Utility

To preserve tea for long distance travel. 
Some individuals have used this same technology to help them take their more illicit substances longer distances. Or to disguise them as tea so as to misdirect the scrutiny of any checks they have to undertake during transport.

Manufacturing

There is a big loop which the dry tea leaves pass through on trays. The square trays have several compartments, over which a large mesh shaker sorts the leaves and allows them to fall evenly into the tray. The tray then shifts under the press which is lowered twice, more tea is shaken in and the pressing happens twice again. This loop happens several times until the tea is as compact as possible. After this the trays are taken to the drying room to continue drying further before quality assurance checks happen. Once they are dry and checked, they are wrapped in specially sewn leather pouches that have been treated to keep out water, insects, dust and mould.

Social Impact

This has allowed tea to be enjoyed further afield than pre-press times.

Inventor(s)

Char of Yor is thought to be the creator of this press. But there are some who claim it was Terrence of Yor instead. Some from Yben fortress claim it was a merchant of Yben who first came up with the idea.

Access & Availability

This is primarily used in the area around Yor as this is where the tea is grown and it is only useful to those trying to preserve their tea for travel.

Complexity

There is a belt that turns wheels and there are animals/creatures/beings who power it. Some have water wheels to power the press, others have

Discovery

Merchants were finding their tea was not selling after a certain distance as people were not enjoying it due to the change in taste. Some tea was going bad too quickly. So they had a meeting to discuss how to remedy this. There were many suggestions and a lot of trial and error. Eventually, someone came up with the wooden tea press which was able to compress the leaves into a more protectable size. Over time, the demand grew and supply was plentiful but slow to process enough tea to go around. Eventually, a more automated version was built with a belt moving the tea under a press and it developed further from there.