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