Hi Blair,

> Did you also see the "0648" and "0678" cakes on eBay?

Well, AFAIK, a four-digit identifier tells us [1:2] the year in which
the blend was created, [3] the leaf quality [4] the factory number.

So a '0648' cake would have its blend created on 2006, with
fourth-grade leaves by the factory identified by the number 8 (Haiwan,
I guess).

> I can see the 888 being seen as lucky by the Chinese. But it seems
> like the numbers are merely product IDs. Maybe a blend number.

I guess you are right. Perhaps the 888 was a particularly good blend
that other producers started to copy, and the 999 was another try.
Besides, tea grading in a region called "lawless and wild" seems
unprobable

> Since it's printed on the package rather than stamped or handwritten
> I'm stretching far enough to assume that it's been associated with that
> collection of bricks from the moment they were first pressed together.

Perhaps they started packaging like this not long ago.

--k