1999 Xiaguan No Inner Ticket Traditional Characters Iron Cake

This product ships directly from the teashop Taishunhe in Taiwan.

Late 1990s Xiaguan Star Tea: #99 Xiaguan "No Inner Ticket" Traditional Script Iron Cake – Dry Stored with Honey-Sweet Smoky Aroma

This product is the first batch of flat-bottomed, "nipple-nail" tiěbǐng (iron cake) from the Xiaguan Tea Factory. Because no nèifēi (inner ticket/small embedded label) was pressed into the tea cake, it became known in the market as the "Wú Fēi Tiěbǐng" (No Inner Ticket Iron Cake). It has gained considerable renown in the mid-to-older aged Puer tea market due to its special taste and exceptional quality.

The '99 "No Inner Ticket Iron Cake" uses the traditional Chinese character (繁體字 - fántǐzì) "Zhong Cha" (China Tea) brand packaging. The cotton paper is thin and translucent, delicate yet prone to tearing, with irregularly distributed flocculent cotton fibers on its surface – a characteristic feature of old tea cotton paper from the 1990s, making it highly recognizable.

There are many details in the layout of the '99 "No Inner Ticket" Iron Cake, such as the traditional "雲" (yún - cloud) character, the "high-footed seven" (the character "七" - qī, meaning seven, is tall, long, thin, and slender), the green "Zhong Cha" seal, combined with the special cotton paper material and the absence of an inner ticket. Experienced tea connoisseurs familiar with this tea can quickly identify an authentic version.

This form of double-sided flat-bottomed iron cake was first produced by the Kunming Tea Factory, specifically the Kunming "Seven Sons" Iron Cakes of the late 1960s. They were pressed in an iron cake mold, resulting in a flat bottom without the typical wōdǐ (concave base/nest shape). After the 1960s Kunming Iron Cakes, this '99 "No Inner Ticket" Iron Cake is the next example of such double-sided flat-bottomed iron cakes.

Specifications:

• Weight: 357g per cake
• Packaging: 7 cakes per tong
• Storage: Dry-stored with a mìyānxiāng (honey-sweet smoky aroma)