Buying Guides
Buying Guide

Factory Puerh

Recipes, factories, and vintages — demystified.

Answer a few questions, get annotated recommendations explaining why each cake is worth your attention.

The Fundamentals

What is Factory Puerh?

Recipes, factories, and why they matter.

Factory puerh refers to tea cakes mass-produced by large Chinese factories — most famously Menghai Tea Factory (brand: Dayi/大益), Xiaguan, and CNNP. Unlike boutique single-origin puerh, factory cakes use standardized recipes that blend maocha(raw material) from different mountains and leaf grades to hit a consistent flavor profile, year after year.

The appeal? Predictability at scale. A 7542 from 2024 tastes broadly similar to a 7542 from 2014 — and because millions of cakes exist, prices stay accessible. Factory puerh is where most collectors start, and many never leave.

How to Read Them

Recipe Code Decoder

Every factory cake has a 4-digit code. Tap a digit to learn what it means.

Tap a digit to learn more

Ready to find your cake?

Answer a few quick questions and we'll match you with specific teas — each annotated with why it's worth your attention.