By Li hongmei

A compressed 'cake' of Chinese tea leaves was sold for a record high price of 7.6 million yuan (US$1.24 million) at an auction in central China's Hubei province on Sept 7.

The tea brick in question, a heavy mass of leaves turned dark brown by a special fermentation process and decades of storage, was produced during China's last dynastic period - the Qing Dynasty (1616- 1912)- at the Hubei Provincial Zhaoliqiao Tea Factory.

The auction winner is the owner of a trading company in Shenzhen.

The winner stated that the tea brick's worth is even more than the price he had paid, claiming it could go for at least 8 million yuan (US$1.3 million).

Tea bricks are the pressed from hundreds of layers of dried tea leaves that undergo a period of controlled fermentation. The most famous type is pu'er, produced exclusively in south China's Yunnan province. Other types of fermented tea are popular in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu and Ningxia, where the tea brick market continues to expand.

Wang Qing, deputy director of the China Tea Marketing Association, stated that the black fermented tea market is growing and its sales have been surging nationwide.

The same business model flooded the pu'er tea market as early as 2006. Pu'er, similar to wine, increases in value and flavor the longer it is stored, making it a hot item for collectors and enthusiasts.