Question for those more knowledgeable than I (that is to say, just
about everybody on this group) ...

I noticed an asian market near my new house in SE Portland, so I
dropped in to see if I could find any actual raw puerh. What I found
was at the end of the tea aisle, a small cylindrical cardboard box
about 4" across and 2" high, containing a tuocha of dark, earthy
smelling tea similar to the loose "puerh" that I've gotten at Teavana.
The box only says "YUNNAN TUOCHA" and four Chinese characters (I don't
read Chinese and can barely interpret Japanese with the help of a Kanji
reference) along with "China National Native Produce & Animal
By-Products Import & Export Corporation Yunnan Tea Branch". I've just
brewed a pot and it's indistinguishable from the stuff I get at
Teavana. The tuocha feels like it weighs a couple of ounces, and set
me back less than two bucks.

My question is: does anybody know just what it is I've got here?

(They also had a disk of similar-looking stuff, about a half-inch thick
and ten inches across, for nine bucks. It was labeled "Black Tea". I
tried asking the clerk if they were puerh but apparently English is a
distant second language to her.)


stePH
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