http://static.flickr.com/6/85526679_069ac699ea.jpg - wrapper
http://static.flickr.com/42/85526678_aafe77eba9.jpg - nei fei closeup
http://static.flickr.com/39/85526680_43604db9ac.jpg - leaves

I bought this in Chinatown for about $10. The pricetag and the receipt
list the item as "Menghai 7262 Puerh Cake." My doubts about this a

1) It seems like a new-ish cake, and I don't recall Menghai using the
zhongcha label for the past few years...?
2) The Zhongcha label has a new feature I've never seen, the
characters: "å‹�海普洱茶" €“ €œMenghai Puerh Tea€�, which I've
never seen on a zhongcha label before. I've looked around online and
can't find it.
3) It was repackaged in Macau by Keng Vai Agencia, so who knows where
it came from!

BUT

4) The Nei Fei looks right for Menghai.

So...have any of you seen such a Zhongcha label before, with those
added characters?
In your guess, a fake Menghai or just one that was repackaged for sale
in the US?

My TaoBao notes show Ð˺£ Xinghai factory making the 7262. There are
several wrappers with Xinghai printed in English. There are several
CNNP wrappers just as you show. One of the CNNP wrappers has 7262
printed on it. The last number is the factory. 2 is Menghai and 3 is
Xiaguan. I'm not sure why Xinghai would use the same factory number as
Menghai. As Danny said earlier Menghai can also mean the area and not
the factory perse. Menghai also uses their company logo somewhere in
the packaging. What are the Chinese characters for nei fei?

Jim

PS I like being first and subsequently corrected by Danny ;-)

Jason F in Los Angeles wrote:
> http://static.flickr.com/6/85526679_069ac699ea.jpg - wrapper
> http://static.flickr.com/42/85526678_aafe77eba9.jpg - nei fei closeup
> http://static.flickr.com/39/85526680_43604db9ac.jpg - leaves
>
> I bought this in Chinatown for about $10. The pricetag and the receipt
> list the item as "Menghai 7262 Puerh Cake." My doubts about this a
>
> 1) It seems like a new-ish cake, and I don't recall Menghai using the
> zhongcha label for the past few years...?
> 2) The Zhongcha label has a new feature I've never seen, the
> characters: "Ûº£ÆÕ¶ý²è" - "Menghai Puerh Tea", whichI've
> never seen on a zhongcha label before. I've looked around online and
> can't find it.
> 3) It was repackaged in Macau by Keng Vai Agencia, so who knows where
> it came from!
>
> BUT
>
> 4) The Nei Fei looks right for Menghai.
>
> So...have any of you seen such a Zhongcha label before, with those
> added characters?
> In your guess, a fake Menghai or just one that was repackaged for sale
> in the US?

"Jason F in Los Angeles" > wrote in message
oups.com...
http://static.flickr.com/6/85526679_069ac699ea.jpg - wrapper
http://static.flickr.com/42/85526678_aafe77eba9.jpg - nei fei closeup
http://static.flickr.com/39/85526680_43604db9ac.jpg - leaves

I bought this in Chinatown for about $10. The pricetag and the receipt
list the item as "Menghai 7262 Puerh Cake." My doubts about this a

1) It seems like a new-ish cake, and I don't recall Menghai using the
zhongcha label for the past few years...?

Menghai tea factory did use the zhongcha label in several of its tea...but
not in my knowledge on the 7262. 7262 was produced in 2000, using top grade
blend of young flushes and leaves, so it is considered by many to be one of
the high end cooke pu'er.

2) The Zhongcha label has a new feature I've never seen, the
characters: "?????" - "Menghai Puerh Tea", which I've
never seen on a zhongcha label before. I've looked around online and
can't find it.

That's puzzling too, but it does give us a good clue - the tea is not from
Menghai Tea Factory, and has Jim pointed out, Menghai Pu'er Tea does not
mean the cake was produced by Menghai Tea Factory...

3) It was repackaged in Macau by Keng Vai Agencia, so who knows where
it came from!

Haha! Didn't Jim have a cake from the same place?

BUT

4) The Nei Fei looks right for Menghai.

It does say "Menghai Chupin" not "Mengahi Cha Chang (Tea Factory) Chupin"...

You helped me with Hong Chang Tai located in Vietnam, Ding Jiu(Super
Old) Border tea packaged in Hong Kong. I think Jason F found a little
nugget in Chinatown. I get jealous when somebody can find something in
their Chinatown and I can't.

Jim

Danny wrote:
>> "Jason F in Los Angeles" > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
....snip...
> 3) It was repackaged in Macau by Keng Vai Agencia, so who knows where
> it came from!
>
> Haha! Didn't Jim have a cake from the same place?

So I glean this: this cake is not a menghai tea factory product and not
a 7262 cake. it's a cooked brick possibly from xinghai factory.

Perhaps my store just misnumbered? Or perhaps someone sold it to them
as being very similar to a 7262 cake. *shrug*

In any case, I tried some and enjoyed it. The first brew was a little
tough, and it gets strong very quickly. Perhaps that's a feature of
being so well compressed? The surface has a lot of well-defined leaves,
but the interior of the cake is less defined. The third infusion was
the best of four that I did.

I still have other cakes to get through first, so I'll probably let
this one mellow out a bit. As it stands, I don't enjoy it as much as
another cake I get in chinatown for $3, so I may not buy too many more
of these.