How you decide whether it is real or fake?

[auhckw]

I read that there are fake Pu-erh with similar packing. I was told that for the same packing, vendors can tell the manufacturer to do according to the cost the vendor is willing to pay.

So when you buy Pu-erh, how do you know whether it is real of fake?

For the Pu-erh that you bought after sampling it may taste good, but How do you know whether it is real when you may have not tasted other similar batch and year?

I noticed Pu-erh price tend to vary from shop 2 shop / onlinesite 2 onlinesite. How can you identify which to buy?

[nickE]

This has been discussed tons of times on this forum. Remember, only Xiaguan and Dayi are likely to even have fakes in the first place.

After a quick search, here are some relevant topics.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&p=164219
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=12141

[puerhking]

Take a look at these two 09 Menghai 7542 902 cakes. Which one of these look fake.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/2009yr-DaYi-CHI-TSU ... ltDomain_0

http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Menghai-Tea-Fa ... ltDomain_0

The leaves on one look to big and are too hairy. What do you guys think?

[shogun89]

oh my, that is an aweful fake!
1. Notice how the wrapper is also a more pale blue?
2. The sticker on the back, the silver vein does not completely disappear, it is too close to the surface.
3. The wrapper looks to be folded by hand rather then bunched by machine like and authentic Dayi.
4. Biggest give away is obviously the leaves, they are quite large and overall it looks like a Mengku cake. Too light in color as well.

[puerhking]

But they did include the numbers along the sides of the nei fei which were missing on other examples. They are getting better...at least with the anti-fake stuff.

[shogun89]

I noticed I made a mistake in my post, the fake wrapper is much darker, almost black, the real one is a bit lighter and kinda splotchy.

[puerhking]

Good eye on the folding of the wrapper. They do have the writting showing on the back correctly.

[Drax]

Whew, definitely would not be immediately obvious from the outside. The #2 and #3 that Shogun point out might arose suspicion...

but yeah, the leaves tell all.

On the other hand, it IS currently going for ~$15 less.........

[puerhking]

well....well what do we have here....another fake

http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Yunnan-Menghai ... ltDomain_0

Wrapper has been hand folded and there are no numbers on the inner ticket. Though I must admit the leaves look pretty convincing.

[Mr. Usaji]

I'm amazed that you can tell whether the wrapper was hand-folded. But why would they show a fake cake in their picture? Wouldn't it make sense to show a real cake in the photo and then send you a fake one if you bought it?

[puerhking]

I'm amazed that you can tell whether the wrapper was hand-folded. But why would they show a fake cake in their picture? Wouldn't it make sense to show a real cake in the photo and then send you a fake one if you bought it?

It was shogun89 that brought the folding to my attention in the last one I posted. It looks too perfect...folded incrementally. It's hard to reproduce the way a machine bunches it together. You have to remember that some vendors were selling other things until someone told them they could make money on puerh. They don't know anything about it when they go to buy inventory. That means they were probably duped and don't even know it.

[puerhking]

see how this one looks random because a machine is doing it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Menghai-Dayi-7 ... ltDomain_0

[nicolas]

Kunming authorities seize more than 50,000 fake tea cakes

In addition to fake fruit juice, Yunnan authorities also found a large number of fake Puerh. According to Kunming police, the city uncovered a fake tea factory in the Xishan District and seized more than 50,000 fake tea cakes, tea, dozens of tons of raw materials.

It is understood that most of the counterfeit tea in the factory were Menghai and Zhongcha branded tea. Authorities said the tea was fermented directly on the floor, and this resulted in excessive E. coli which is harmful to health.

昆明檢逾五萬個假普洱茶餅
除了假果汁，茶葉大省雲南也發現大批假普洱。昆明警方根據舉報，破獲該市西山區一個假茶工場，繳獲假普洱茶餅五萬多個，茶原料數十噸。
據了解，假冒最多的是雲南孟力海普洱茶廠、雲南中茶茶業有限公司生產的各種品牌的普洱茶。當局表示，工場中的假冒茶葉是直接放在地上發酵，大腸桿菌含量嚴重超標，對身體有害。

Source: 26/08 东方日报

[debunix]

[Authorities said the tea was fermented directly on the floor, and this resulted in excessive E. coli which is harmful to health.

Bad for your pocketbook, bad for your tastebuds, and bad for your gut. Yuck.

[Crafty_Mom]

Kunming authorities seize more than 50,000 fake tea cakes


It is understood that most of the counterfeit tea in the factory were Menghai and Zhongcha branded tea. Authorities said the tea was fermented directly on the floor, and this resulted in excessive E. coli which is harmful to health.

Source: 26/08 东方日报

Wow. And eww. Lots of eww.