Theme - Cake

„Pu-erh shape - Bing, Beeng, Cake, or Disc - A round, flat, disc or puck-shaped tea, the size ranges from as small as 100g to as large as 5 kg or more, with 357g, 400g, and 500g being the most common. Depending on the pressing method, the edge of the disk can be rounded or perpendicular. It is also commonly known as Qīzí bǐngchá (七子餅茶, literally "seven units cake tea") because seven of the bing are packaged together at a time for sale or transport.“

„The most classical Puerh Tea is the Bingcha, recorded in Yong-Zheng 13th year in Qing Dynasty (1735). Each tea cake weighs 7 Liang (357 grams). Seven cakes make 1 Tong (wrapped in leaves), weighing 49 Liang. It was sold in nice places and also was exported abroad. It was re-named as "Yunnan Qizi bingcha - Yunnan seven cake tea" during the Cutural revolution.“

„Yunnan Tea Company standardized the trade number for Pu Erh Tea in 1976 for the purpose of export. Each bingcha has 4 digits: the first 2 digits indicate the manufacturing year, the third digit indicates the leaf grade, the last digit indicates the tea factory (e.g. Kun-Ming 1, Meng-Hai 2, Xia-Guan 3, Pu Erh 4). The loose-leaf tea has 5 digits with the third and fourth indicating the class level of raw materials. Examples of early trade numbers for Puerh Tea are 7452, 7562, 7572, 75671, 76563.“