> will 2006 7542
> age as well as the legendary cakes from years prior? And that's not a
> rhetorical question, necessarily, btw, and I think has been asked
> before


No, the leaf quality this year is not as good as years past, plus the
quality standards are lower, just about any maocha on the market gets
readily snatched up nowadays.

You are dead on the money about the recipe numbers meaning very little,
they really haven't meant much since the privatization of the Tea
Factories. It is more marketing now than anything else.

To the best of my knowledge 888 is not a code. It simply represents
good luck. I have tried the 888 cakes and I like them, as far as shu pu
goes. Never tried the 999 but I have read that it is an iron cake
which accounts for the hard compression.

_________
Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net