Bought my first puerh cake from a local international market
It weighs 357g, was in a box with no English writing at all, but the inner package says “yunnan pu er chi tse beeng cha” and “7572”. I think it might be a rip off of a legit manufacturer’s cake, because it was only $5.68 and I can’t find any packaging similar to it online. shrug whatever, though, it’s drinkable! Oh also frustrating, I can’t find a date anywhere on it!
Here’s what the box looks like http://posharpstore.com/en-us/fu-brand-yunnan-qizi-bing-cha-7572-recipe-125oz-p3691.aspx
The inner paper wrapper (and the paper ticket embedded in the cake) is what you want to look at, It sounds like a CNNP wrapper. If you can post a picture of the paper wrapper someone can probably help ID it better. The outer box is just some random gift packaging by the store (or other middleman) and means nothing at all to what’s inside.
ok, so not a CNNP wrapper, never seen that logo before, I’ll have to defer to the experts. I doubt it’s a rip off/fake though (as those would have a faked famous factory’s branding/logo), just a small unknown cheapie brand.
Not sure of the factory but the description "“yunnan pu er chi tse beeng cha” mean yunnan area puerh . The chi tse beeng cha literally means “round tea”. The edge of the cake should have a taper to it. Another name for a cake like this with a tapered edge would be a seven cake. The numbers 7572 means “75” the blend for this cake was first introduced in 1975. The third number “7” means from 7th grade leaves with the scale 1 the best leaf to 9 the last grade, but I think the 7th grade leaves age really good. The last letter “2” is kind of confusing as this usually designates a tea from the Menghai Tea factory. This could be a cake from a factory they outsourced production to.Are there any dates or stampings on th wrapper when you open it up? It will probably be packed in some type of tissue paper. Puerh takes a different type of brewing to get the most from the tea. I would suggest a 10 second “wash” to be tossed away and for consumption on the second steep. There is a discussion under pu-erh sheng or shou that may give you some insights about this type of tea.
Thanks! I couldn’t find a date anywhere! I’ve tasted a few pu-erhs before, but I’m still pretty much a novice. This one is very mild and not offensive in any way. Excited that it might age well, since it’ll take me forever to go though a whole cake! I will read more, the whole thing is intriguing :)
Can you link a picture to the neifei, or ticket found inside the wrapper? From just the outside wrapper, there really is nothing besides 福 (pronounced “fu” in the second tone) to go off of, and that syllable just means “blessing” or “good fortune”—pretty generic. The script across the top and versions of it are found on most pu’er wrappers (and is the same thing across the top of the box: Yunnan qi1 zi3 bing3 cha2, described by mrmopar above). To me, it just seems like a no-name label using a few Menghai-related features to seem more legitimate. But if it tastes good, none of that stuff matters.
The inside ticket is super generic- just has the same character (fu) that was on the outside of the wrapper and 7572 above and below it.
Ahhh! I thought that was an exterior sticker or something. Most certainly a no-name production, with probably nothing to do with the Menghai Tea Factory. No worries, though, as long as it’s relatively cheap and you don’t find anything fishy about the tea itself. I have a few tiepai (“pasted brand”) cakes that are really quite good.
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