A while ago I read the Chinese puer blogger Feiyang saying that in the first ½ of the 20th century puer was made from “rammed tea” rather than plain dry maocha: http://babelcarp.org/babelcarp/babelcarp.cgi?phrase=zhucha&define=1
He also said Xiaguan still uses zhucha in its bricks made for the Tibet market.
@babelcarp
I like the construction of some Tibetan bricks for the same reason... So much more personality in there than a higher quality tea cake/brick