Pu'er tea cake, 357g (recent-production shu or sheng)
A compressed disc of Yunnan tea that improves for decades — bought at the source market for the price of a single Western-vendor session.
Price: 180 CNY (Standard 357g factory cake (e.g., Dayi 7572 shu) at tea markets; collectible sheng runs ¥300-1,000+)
Where to buy: Fangcun tea market (Guangzhou), Maliandao tea street (Beijing), or branded Dayi/Xiaguan stores in any city
Price checked 2026-07-03
- Aging honesty: genuinely aged (15-30 yr) cakes are a collector market full of fakes — as a visitor, buy young cakes from named factories with anti-counterfeit seals and age them yourself
- Shu (ripe) is dark, smooth, cheap and forgiving; sheng (raw) is the collectible one — taste both at the stall, sessions are free and expected
- Cakes are flat, light and flight-proof — the perfect suitcase souvenir