Seems like a "classic" Pu-eh bingcha nominally weighs 357 grams.
Although China (PRC) went metric in 1987, I get the impression that 100,
400 and 500g cakes are a relatively recent phenomenon.

357g is presumably someone's interpretation of ten tael or Chinese
ounces, now 50g but formerly about 37.5g. At the same time, in none of
the superficial reading I've done has there been a tael of exactly
37.5g; the imperial treasury tael of 37.3g seems closest.

Anyone know the origin of the 357g "standard" bingcha? Or why 375g, a
non-round number, is also common? I'm guessing that it's partly
marketing (perhaps invoking archaic terminology, as age is respected in
China), and partly the difficulty of specifying a precise weight when
water content can easily vary by 10% or more. The baker's dozen was
allegedly invented because short-weighting loaves could lead to
shortening of limbs, so bakers gave a little extra as insurance.

Or does that weight or the number 357 have some other significance?

-DM

This is interesting. I've always wondered about this myself. The
number itself is attractive for some reason--maybe it is because 3, 5,
and 7 have a kind of pattern to them (first three odd numbers outside
of one). Somehow I'm guessing that isn't the reason for the number,
though. Could it have something to do with the way tea was packaged?
If, as the Wikipedia entry on pu-er states, traditional packaging of
bings is seven to one tong, then the weight of a tong would be a much
rounder number of approximately 2.5 kg. In turn, one jian of 12 tong
would be approximately 30 kg. This seems easier to work with than 357.

cha bing

"DogMa" wrote in message ...
Seems like a "classic" Pu-eh bingcha nominally weighs 357 grams.
Although China (PRC) went metric in 1987, I get the impression that 100,
400 and 500g cakes are a relatively recent phenomenon.

357g is presumably someone's interpretation of ten tael or Chinese
ounces, now 50g but formerly about 37.5g. At the same time, in none of
the superficial reading I've done has there been a tael of exactly
37.5g; the imperial treasury tael of 37.3g seems closest.

Anyone know the origin of the 357g "standard" bingcha? Or why 375g, a
non-round number, is also common? I'm guessing that it's partly
marketing (perhaps invoking archaic terminology, as age is respected in
China), and partly the difficulty of specifying a precise weight when
water content can easily vary by 10% or more. The baker's dozen was
allegedly invented because short-weighting loaves could lead to
shortening of limbs, so bakers gave a little extra as insurance.

Or does that weight or the number 357 have some other significance?

-DM

375g equals 10 liang.
Etymologically, tael comes from liang, a Chinese traditional weight unit.

chance wrote:
Seems like a "classic" Pu-eh bingcha nominally weighs 357 grams.
357g is presumably someone's interpretation of ten tael or Chinese
ounces ...
375g equals 10 liang.
Etymologically, tael comes from liang, a Chinese traditional weight unit.

Right. So why 357g for a bingcha? Perhaps 10 tael/liang of wet maocha,
drying to a nominal 357g?

-DM

Ive bought teas in Chinatown by the tael 37.5g or 1.2 ounce. Look at
the previous posts under QiZi or ChiTse including the space between
the word pairs. 7 * 357 is one gram short of 2.5k.

Jim

DogMa wrote:
chance wrote:
Seems like a "classic" Pu-eh bingcha nominally weighs 357 grams.
357g is presumably someone's interpretation of ten tael or Chinese
ounces ...
375g equals 10 liang.
Etymologically, tael comes from liang, a Chinese traditional weight unit.

Right. So why 357g for a bingcha? Perhaps 10 tael/liang of wet maocha,
drying to a nominal 357g?

-DM

There are two popular expanations to this, both unrelated.

1 kati, or jin, equals 16 taels, or liang
In the old days, each tea disc weighed at 7 liang,
Each tong has 7 cakes, which amounts to 49 liang, or about 3 jin


On the horse-tea route where horses and mules were used to transport
the tea
It was calculated that for the animals to efficiently transport the
tea without overly labored, each animal could carry a maximum of 60kg,
with 30kg on each side.
Each tong has 7 pieces, each batch has 12 tongs, that amounts to 84
cakes. Divide that by 30kg, one gets 357g.

Since animals are no longer required to transport tea these days, tea
manufacturers have relaxed on the old rule and produced cakes of
different weights.

kev

On Oct 12, 6:08*am, DogMa wrote:
The baker's dozen was
allegedly invented because short-weighting loaves could lead to
shortening of limbs, so bakers gave a little extra as insurance.

Interesting. My understanding is that the buyer would get one to
taste, and then buy a dozen to take home. If only Dunkin Donuts still
did that!

Alan