I've done a little research, including asking a couple of Chinese people I know, but have been unable to determine this to my satisfaction. Can anyone confirm or correct the following?
In both words, "cha" simply means tea.
"bingcha" is tea compressed into a disc-like shape.
"tuocha" is tea compressed into a bowl shape (bird's nest?)
Any variety of tea can, theoretically, be packed as bingcha or tuocha, i.e. it's not limited to pu-erh. Are greens sometimes packed this way too?
Finally, does anyone know the *literal* translation of the two words?
I've come across others (jincha, zhuancha) and would appreciate the same info about those.
Thanks,
- Joel