How to Get Tuff in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Tuff generates in huge ore blobs below Y=0 - mine deep and you will hit entire caves of it. Use any pickaxe, then run it through a stonecutter for the full polished and brick family, the same blocks trial chambers are built from.

What you need

Any pickaxe
Torches for deep mining
A stonecutter to unlock the decorative variants

Step by step

Mine below Y=0: tuff appears in ore blobs anywhere from Y=-64 up to Y=0, in every biome. Any deep mining session runs into it - it is basically the gravel of the deepslate layer.
Use a pickaxe: like most stone, tuff drops nothing without one. Wooden pickaxe works.
Follow the iron veins: below Y=0, large iron ore veins come wrapped in tuff (with raw iron blocks at the core). Spotting tuff patches at deepslate level can lead you to serious iron.
Loot trial chambers: these copper-and-tuff structures are built from tuff bricks and also have tuff in chests - sightseeing and supplies in one trip.
Stonecut everything: one tuff block in a stonecutter converts cleanly into polished tuff, tuff bricks, chiseled variants, slabs, stairs and walls - no wasted material.
Build with the family: tuff's grey-green tones pair perfectly with copper, which is exactly why Mojang built the trial chambers out of them.

Java vs Bedrock

Same generation and crafting in Java and Bedrock.

Versions: Tuff was added in Java 1.17 and Bedrock 1.17.0 (Caves & Cliffs Part I, 2021); the polished and brick variants arrived in 1.21 with the trial chambers.

Frequently asked questions

What Y level is tuff found at?

Between Y=-64 and Y=0, in every biome, as large ore blobs. It also wraps the big iron veins that generate below Y=0.

Is tuff renewable?

No, but it is absurdly abundant - blobs of up to 864 blocks generate twice per chunk below Y=0, so you will never run out in practice.

What can you make with tuff?

Via crafting or the stonecutter: polished tuff, tuff bricks, chiseled tuff, and slab/stair/wall versions of each - the complete trial chambers palette.