Brick vs Cake?????

by **dagestan1980** » Dec 30th, '11, 20:54

Brick vs Cake?????

by dagestan1980 » Dec 30th, '11, 20:54

Why is brick puerh is almost always less expensive than cake, is it made of lesser quality material? I see some really inexpensive Menghai bricks, whats the deal with that?

by **beecrofter** » Dec 30th, '11, 22:18

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by beecrofter » Dec 30th, '11, 22:18

Perhaps not so much lower quality as lower grades of leaf by size and condition. Much is made for export to Tibet. There are bricks that are very very good so don't discount them.

by **dagestan1980** » Dec 30th, '11, 22:27

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by dagestan1980 » Dec 30th, '11, 22:27

Can you provide.some example of decent brick puerh

by **TomVerlain** » Dec 30th, '11, 23:39

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by TomVerlain » Dec 30th, '11, 23:39

7581 is a classic recipe in brick form. Brick tea is not neccessarily inferior to cake, as there are vast galaxies of bad tea cakes, cake form being the more popular size.

by **bearsbearsbears** » Dec 30th, '11, 23:48

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by bearsbearsbears » Dec 30th, '11, 23:48

dagestan1980 wrote:Why is brick puerh is almost always less expensive than cake, is it made of lesser quality material? I see some really inexpensive Menghai bricks, whats the deal with that?

Despite what others say here: yes, bricks are generally comprised of lower quality leaf and materials than cakes.

by **kasey** » Dec 31st, '11, 02:30

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by kasey » Dec 31st, '11, 02:30

Are you referring to the bricks being sold by Puerh company? They are highly rated and I myself just ordered about a kilo today.

by **shah82** » Dec 31st, '11, 02:45

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by shah82 » Dec 31st, '11, 02:45

No...

*again*

Bricks.are.typically.made.with.inferior.leaves.

On occasion, people will be all stylish and stuff and do a kind of slumming run where they put top stuff into a brick. This would be perhaps, an outfit like Puershop custom runs. But virtually everyone else, especially big-factories, a brick is using the second-best or third-best material. Doesn't have to be this way, but it's a signal as to which product is the premium and which product is economy...

by **TIM** » Dec 31st, '11, 08:44

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by TIM » Dec 31st, '11, 08:44

shah82 wrote:No...

*again*

Bricks.are.typically.made.with.inferior.leaves.

On occasion, people will be all stylish and stuff and do a kind of slumming run where they put top stuff into a brick. This would be perhaps, an outfit like Puershop custom runs. But virtually everyone else, especially big-factories, a brick is using the second-best or third-best material. Doesn't have to be this way, but it's a signal as to which product is the premium and which product is economy...

Your point only applies on bricks made in the CNN Party owns period. After privatization, "brick is second-best" don't really applies anymore.

by **Drax** » Dec 31st, '11, 09:50

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by Drax » Dec 31st, '11, 09:50

TIM wrote:Your point only applies on bricks made in the CNN Party owns period. After privatization, "brick is second-best" don't really applies anymore.

Yes, it seems as though lower quality leaves were generally used in older bricks, but nowadays, that rule of thumb is less useful (but not useless).

Douji is a great example of a company that produces a high-quality brick.

And here is an example of a company that produces a tasty brick (the Xiaguan tibetan flame), but definitely uses lower quality leaves (or at least, the leaves are really broken and chopped). I've linked a 2005 version, but even the 2011 brick will look like this one.

I'm sure that we could find exceptions for any statement made on this topic. Rules of thumb are good starting points -- as in all things, the tea will speak for itself.

by **apache** » Dec 31st, '11, 12:39

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by apache » Dec 31st, '11, 12:39

dagestan1980 wrote:Can you provide.some example of decent brick puerh

The legendary "Hualian Brick" from Macau:
http://www.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=14309899&page=8#pid291122661

It got an interesting story how it came about.

by **shah82** » Dec 31st, '11, 13:43

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by shah82 » Dec 31st, '11, 13:43

Tim, the only bricks that aren't inferior to related products are handy sizes, like the Douji matchbook, or they are meant as an introduction to a company's wares. It certainly wasn't just CNNP, and the rule of thumb hasn't stopped being useful after privatization. Plenty of S. Mengku's products follow this general trend--you want the cake version of the Wild Arbor King and not the brick version. HLH more or less does the same, and these are two companies I could think of that produces bricks. Dayi is a bit different, in terms of shu, but other than GNWL and Classic66 and other rather premium products, I've never heard of people being especially happy with the brick products like the Bada high mountain or the Golden 2kg brick...

cursory acknowledgement that I very rarely consume brick products, and the one I do the most, the XZH '06 brick, is one I treasure.

by **kasey** » Jan 6th, '12, 02:48

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by kasey » Jan 6th, '12, 02:48

These posts are all out of order. Can anything be done about that?

by **Chip** » Jan 6th, '12, 09:12

Re: Brick vs Cake?????

by Chip » Jan 6th, '12, 09:12

kasey wrote:These posts are all out of order. Can anything be done about that?

They all seem to be in chronological order here ...

Perhaps you changed the order with the options at the bottom of the page.