The entire puer cake falls apart

[Sandi]

I open a new cake and found that the entire puer cake just becomes crumble and falls apart on me.
What is happening?
Can it still be drinkable?
Sigh. Gotta go shopping again.

[Teasenz]

I open a new cake and found that the entire puer cake just becomes crumble and falls apart on me.
What is happening?
Can it still be drinkable?
Sigh. Gotta go shopping again.

The fact that it falls apart is no sign that you can't drink it. This happens often with tea cakes that consists of fairly small leaves, yet wasn't compressed tightly enough.

[Sandi]

The fact that it falls apart is no sign that you can't drink it. This happens often with tea cakes that consists of fairly small leaves, yet wasn't compressed tightly enough.

Wow Thanks so much, I will try it out later to see if there is a difference from the previous batch. Thank you Thank you.

[beachape]

Agree. I've encountered this in a few ways:
1) Fresh cakes that aren't pressed properly. I've had at least one that completely broke apart in the wrapper.
2) Old teas with very wet storage can start to break apart as the leaves swell. Usually not disintegrating, but can be very easy to break if bumped
3) Older teas that have been bumped around/damaged over the many years. Commonly the edges of cakes will be broken on old cakes.

None of these independently impact the quality of the tea IMO. Loose tea tends to age/oxidize more rapidly than very firmly pressed cakes