Re: "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake"

1. 
   
   
   
   Ocpuerh had the following comments under topic "This is my first Puerh Tea Post in my Blog" on 12 September 2006.
   
   
   Dear Cloud...Thank for the info...WHat would make one Royal...Was there different series of that cake produced with different grade leaves, or aren't they all the same recipe each year, making only one production type. And what do you say is the dirrerence between the Simplified CHaracter and the Traditional Character (like the 8653)..Or is it just a different wrapper? Thanks for your blogspace..OCP
   
   
   Dear Ocpuerh,
   
   "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake" in Chinese is "廣雲貢餅" (I hope you can view Chinese Character on your screen).
   
   As I said in my post, it is also called "Guangyun Gong Beeng" (translated by pronunciation).
   
   "Gong" is the pronunciation of "貢" (the third character of the name in Chinese) which means "to pay tribute to our emperor" in the ancient time. Therefore, I use the term "Tribute" to express the idea reflecting from the literal meaning of Chinese that it was a tea which was so good that it had to be paid as tribute to the emperor. I guess it is the intention of the nominator who named this 1960 Guangdong Tea Cake as "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake". The nominator, I believe, was Mr. Deng who wrote the book Puerh Tea in Chinese. However, "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake" is just a name which means supreme. There was no longer any tribute event in 1960s.
   
   "Tribute" is a direct translation of its meaning.
   
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   "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake", in my view, is the earliest "Guangdong Tea Cake" which could be seen so far.
   
   According to those tea experts including Mr. Deng who wrote the book Puerh Tea, the sources of tea leave compressed in the early "Guangdong Tea Cake" containing tea leaves from Yunnan. That's why those experts called this special type of "Guangdong Tea Cake" as "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake" because the taste of "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake" is really good and supreme.
   
   Without knowing the reason, the quality of 1970s "Guangdong Tea Cake" dropped. It was no longer having a good taste to satisfy those experienced tea experts. As you may be correct that the recipe of "Guangyn Roayl Tea Cake" might no longer be used in the later 1970s "Guangdong Tea Cake". In short, that means 1970s "Guangdong Tea Cake does not contain tea leaves imported from Yunnan province.
   
   Therefore, you are right that "Guangyn Roayl Tea Cake" were just only one production in 1960s. At least, this is my view.
   
   I have both 1960s "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake" and 1970s "Guangdong Tea Cake". The taste differences between these two tea cakes are quite substantial.
   
   Therefore, my view is that 1970s "Guangdong Tea Cake" is just ordinary "Guangdong Tea Cake" which used the ordinary tea leaves collected in non-Yunnan areas while, however, "Guangyn Roayl Tea Cake" had mixed with Yunnan tea leaves. The taste of "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cake" is so great that it can be distinguished from ordinary "Guangdong Tea Cake" from 1980s, 1990s and even 1970s.
   
   What I can tell is that "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cakes" were very rare right now because Chinese collectors have been collecting this tea since 1995. As the taste of it is very great with a relatively lower price at that time, collectors were very willing to brew this tea because collectors do not want to brew those expensive one. Since "Guangyn Roayl Tea Cake" can offer half quality of those masterpieces, why should the collectors not brew "Guangyn Roayl Tea Cake" as it was releatively cheap at that time (1995~2000)?
   
   Even though I have got so many tea cakes right now, I only have several real 1960s "Guangyun Tribute Tea Cakes".
   
   Ocpuerh, can you tell from the pictures I posted that the tea leaves used and the tea cake molds in 1960s' and the 1970s' are different?
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   The differences between Zhongcha Brand Simplified Chinese Characters and Zhongcha Brand Traditional Chinese Characters are substantial in a few areas such as tea leaves used, tea cake molds, aging years, wrapping papers, etc.
   
   I think I will write on this issue in a separate post rather then just leaving a long comments mixed with comments of "Guangyn Roayl Tea Cake". My schedule is tight this week. Give me some times.