Question about storage of cakes

[Sam.]

I'm still very new to the whole pu-erh scene and I've only bought a few small tuochas but I had a question about the large cakes. I don't have any setup to allow me to store cakes over long periods of time to allow proper aging nor do I have the know-how to try doing any of that yet, so if I was to buy a cake it'd be to drink it within the next few months.

So my question is - when you buy a cake, not for storage but for immediate consumption, do you keep it in cake form and just pry off small chunks of it at a time when you need them, or do you brake up the entire cake (in this fashion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th86Ge4fFJs) and keep the broken up chunks stored in an airtight container until they're all gone?

[thanks]

Break off chunks as you go. Rewrap the beeng and you're all set!

[tacobell]

in this fashion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th86Ge4fFJs)

I think this is a great video. I am a fan of breaking up the entire cake. As I understand it, these are blends of teas with often not an even distribution of leaves, i.e. sometimes larger leaves are on the outside as they are prettier. By breaking up the cake completely, I think you get a better mix of the teas in the tea.

[aKnightWhoSaysNi]

I guess it would be okay to break it up if you plan on consuming the tea quickly. However, I think it will lose it's flavor if stored broken up for a longer period of time.

[thanks]

The breaking up is for recipe beengs when they're fully aged. It also depends on the recipe whether or not it's necessary to break the whole thing up. 7542? Then that cake should be broken up and mixed. 0622? Not so much.

Storing teas broken up is not that detrimental. It may lose a little "oomph" over a couple decades, but that's about it. When recipe cakes are fully aged they're usually broken up entirely, then mixed and stored in yixing clay jars for a week or two before brewing the pieces. This allows the tea to air out and mix together. Some say it has a profound effect on the qi of the tea cake itself.

All of this is from my own experiences and research, so your mileage may vary.

[Sam.]

it will lose it's flavor if stored broken up for a longer period of time.

How long do you consider "too long" to store a broken up beeng? I'm talking about a few months - enough time to consume the cake.

7542? Then that cake should be broken up and mixed. 0622? Not so much.

I still have no idea what the different numbers mean! I'd like to learn, though.

So it isn't too bad of an idea to break up the beeng, then. It'll be much easier for me to store it that way and I won't have to make a mess prying off leaves every time I want to brew some.

[thanks]

it will lose it's flavor if stored broken up for a longer period of time.

How long do you consider "too long" to store a broken up beeng? I'm talking about a few months - enough time to consume the cake.

7542? Then that cake should be broken up and mixed. 0622? Not so much.

I still have no idea what the different numbers mean! I'd like to learn, though.

So it isn't too bad of an idea to break up the beeng, then. It'll be much easier for me to store it that way and I won't have to make a mess prying off leaves every time I want to brew some.

I'll just copy paste my post over from B&B;

Let's take a common recipe like 7532 and break it down by it's parts. There are three parts to a recipe code.

The first part is the first two digits, or in this case 75. The first two digits indicate the year the recipe was first introduced or made so this recipe was first introduced in 1975.

The second part is the third digit, which is the average grade leaf used in the recipe. Grading works on a scale of 0-9, with 0 being either laochatuo or the tiniest earliest spring pickings (I think only Haiwan really uses 0 for this purpose.) Now in the case of 7532, it's made using an average of grade 3 sized leaf. Now a smaller number does not indicate a higher quality leaf, as the 8582 is a fantastic recipe using "lower grade" maocha in it's composition, just merely means how young the tea leaf is. What's interesting is everyone seems to forget that the number is an average of the grade leaf, and in most cases concerning Menghai recipes, there is a specific way of pressing the beengs for the recipe. For instance, 7542 uses an average of grade 2-4 leaves on the surface and outside layer of the beeng, but on the inside is a much "lower" grade leaf closer to 5-8. Now this isn't trickery, but Menghai does this because when the cake is properly aged it's typical to break the cake apart completely, then mix it up in a clay jar for temporary storage and airing out as you drink it up. This is why just breaking off a cake won't ever really give you an accurate taste of what the blend is truly trying to achieve.

The third and last part of the recipe is the fourth digit. This is known as a factory code. 2 is Menghai Dayi's factory code, so whenever you see a four-digit recipe number ending in 2, it's from the Menghai Dayi factory. Here's the most recent "official" factory list courtesy of Wikipedia (and I think bearsbearsbears)

Factory numbers (fourth digit in recipe):

1. Kunming Tea Factory
2. Menghai Tea Factory
3. Xiaguan Tea Factory
4. Lan Cang Tea Factory or Feng Qing Tea Factory
5. Pu'er Tea Factory (now Pu'er Tea group Co.Ltd )
6. Six Famous Tea Mountain Factory
7. unknown / not specified
8. Haiwan Tea Factory and Long Sheng Tea Factory

I haven't found this list to always be super accurate, but 2, 3, and 8 are almost always accurate.

Hope this helped.

[tony shlongini]

The trouble with breaking it up as you go is that those paper wrappers are so flimsy that if you unwrap and rewrap your bing ten times the paper will disintegrate. Some fall apart just by looking at them. I'd love to see a picture of a wrapper that's been opened and closed thirty times.

So what I do is something of a compromise. I'll break off a sizeable chunk good for around a half dozen or so sessions. I keep the chunk in a brown paper lunch bag labeled with a P-Touch or any non-smelly ink (no magic markers). I keep around a dozen such bags handy for my rotation. The remaining, larger portion of the cake gets rewrapped, and since this is only done a few (5-6) times, the original wrapper stays fairly intact. Alternatively, instead of paper bags, you can store your broken off chunks in tea cannisters, but be sure to open them regularly.

I think the only danger is getting stuck with too much of what we used to refer to as "shake" in the 70's. Excessively broken leaves and fannings will have too much surface to mass ratio, and won't age the same as a solid piece.

You should be able to keep your pu'er in this manner indefinately, or until you discover one of the first problems of this hobby- if you only have a few cakes, they won't last that long because you'll be hitting them constantly. It's much easier to make things last after you have amassed dozens of cakes.

[Sam.]

Thanks for all the help everyone, really. Any other opinions I'd love to hear too.

I think the only danger is getting stuck with too much of what we used to refer to as "shake" in the 70's. Excessively broken leaves and fannings will have too much surface to mass ratio, and won't age the same as a solid piece.

You should be able to keep your pu'er in this manner indefinately, or until you discover one of the first problems of this hobby- if you only have a few cakes, they won't last that long because you'll be hitting them constantly.

This isn't a problem for me. As a college student I really don't have the resources, space, or ability to keep a bunch of cakes and age them so I just plan on buying a cake, consuming it immediately, rinse and repeat. So I'll just break it up and put it in a container where it can get airflow until it's all gone.

[tacobell]

I think the only danger is getting stuck with too much of what we used to refer to as "shake" in the 70's

You were drinking Pu in the 70's?

[thanks]

I think the only danger is getting stuck with too much of what we used to refer to as "shake" in the 70's

You were drinking Pu in the 70's?

Ouch always provides the best comic relief!

[Trioxin]

Normally, I break as I consume, with exceptions of course. I purchased a number of cheap iron cakes that I like for daily consumption. Too much of a pain to break apart as I go, so for those I steam, break apart, and store in a bowl within my humidor.

[tony shlongini]

Ouch always provides the best comic relief!

Who is this Ouch character?

[tony shlongini]

Normally, I break as I consume, with exceptions of course. I purchased a number of cheap iron cakes that I like for daily consumption. Too much of a pain to break apart as I go, so for those I steam, break apart, and store in a bowl within my humidor.

I've had some tie bings from Xiaguan that weren't nearly as tightly compressed as some of their "regular", neutron star density cakes and tuos.

Iron cake- what a tough sounding name!

[JP]

in this fashion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th86Ge4fFJs)

I think this is a great video. I am a fan of breaking up the entire cake. As I understand it, these are blends of teas with often not an even distribution of leaves, i.e. sometimes larger leaves are on the outside as they are prettier. By breaking up the cake completely, I think you get a better mix of the teas in the tea.

I have been thinking the same, so I agree. For me, it comes from so many comments from people who have varied experiences with the same tea cake. One session they get certain results, then the next session they get very different results. That can only be from having a different blend of leaves out of the cake from session to session.