Hi Joel,

Look at my Puerh Shapes page http://www.pu-erh.net/puerhshapes.html
or my Puerh Rosetta Page http://www.pu-erh.net/rosetta.html for the
Chinese characters of these terms then look up the characters at
http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict for the
literal definitions.

I've done a little research, including asking a couple of Chinese
people I know, but have been unable to determine this to my
satisfaction. Can anyone confirm or correct the following?

In both words, "cha" simply means tea.
Yes, that is accurate
"bingcha" is tea compressed into a disc-like shape.
Yes, that is accurate
"tuocha" is tea compressed into a bowl shape (bird's nest?)
Yes, that is accurate
Any variety of tea can, theoretically, be packed as bingcha or tuocha,
i.e. it's not limited to pu-erh. Are greens sometimes packed this way
too?
Yes I have seen greens packed this way although it is uncommon.

Finally, does anyone know the *literal* translation of the two words?
pu'er = a town in China known for tea trading since ancient times
cha (as in puer tea) = cha2/tea/tea plant
bing (as in cake puer) = bing3 / round flat cake / cookie / cake /
pastry /
tuo (as in bowl shaped puer) = tuo2/river/streams/waterways
tuocha (2 symbols together) = "Bowl-shaped brick tea"
tuan (as in ball shaped puer) = tuan2/roll around with hand
fang (as in square puer) = fang1/a square/rectangle/a region; local
zhuan (as in brick puer) - zhuan1/ tile/ brick
jin = (I know it means small brick shape but I have not researched the
proper Chinese character)
san (as in loose leaf puer) = san4/scatter/ disperse/ break up



Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply