This issue is believed to be encountered by both tea merchants and drinkers. Clearly, when selecting tea, the tea soup remains brewable for over ten infusions. But after being compressed into cake tea, the flavor changes. At first, I was also puzzled—sometimes there is a significant difference and disparity between loose tea and tea compressed into cakes.

First, from the plucking of fresh leaves to the completion of processing and then sun-drying, high temperatures cause the aromatic substances in the fresh leaves to volatilize, and the enzymatic activity in the fresh leaves stops transforming. This process, under sunlight, takes at most 10 hours. From fresh leaves to the slow drying after fixation, the tea's character is at its strongest, with excellent flavor and aroma. Therefore, most people, upon tasting loose tea and finding it good, will purchase in large quantities, only to be greatly disappointed after it is steamed and compressed into cakes.

Why?

To compress dry tea into cakes, it first requires high-temperature steam for pressing. The steam needs to be high-temperature to quickly soften the tea leaves for compression. The high-temperature steam first increases the moisture content of the tea leaves, and secondly, causes the substances in the tea leaves to undergo transformation again. At this stage, the tea's character is unstable.

After shaping, whether air-dried naturally or moderately dried in a baking room, the compressed tea needs to be dried in a short time. This period is actually very brief, while tea inherently requires sedimentation and should take its time. Tea drinkers know that after buying new tea, most will choose to brew it only after half a year, by which time the tea's flavor will be well-balanced and moderate.

Many tea friends buy new tea and want to try it fresh. They open the new tea, break it apart to drink, perhaps just after the tea cake has been wrapped in paper, having undergone high-temperature steam or moderate drying. At this point, the tea's character is not mild; usually, the first four brews will show strong aroma and robust flavor. Tea friends can recall this. After the 7th brew, the tea taste begins to fade.

At this time, most people feel somewhat disappointed with the tea and thus might miss out on what could have been a good tea for storage.

Through communication, some tea friends increase the number of brews when drinking new tea, regardless of the strength and flavor, to see if there is still taste in the tea soup after ten brews.

During the several processing stages of Pu-erh tea, the effect of high temperature has both advantages and disadvantages for the tea. It is not necessarily due to the tea's inherent substances or issues with the tea processing technique;很大程度上是因为二次高温，致使茶性不温和。很大程度是因为二次高温，致使茶性不温和。 (largely because the secondary high temperature causes the tea's character to become unstable.)