It’s a sunny Sunday morning, so I went outside for a proper Gong Fu Cha session. I realized I hadn’t posted about one of my favorite shu puer teas of the moment: 1998 Bian Xiao Zhuan.

1998 Bian Xiao Zhuan

This is an aged shou puerh from the Menghai area in Xishuangbanna. It has actually only been pressed into bricks in 2022, but it uses material from 1998.

It’s interesting because this tea was made to replicate a specific shou puerh from 1996. The 1996 version is no longer available, which is why they tried to recreate it.

Unfortunately, I only tasted a sample of the 1996 version, so I cannot really compare. I had it a couple of years ago and can’t remember.

Anyway, today’s tea session is all about the 1998 version.

Tea tasting

The compression is fairly loose, so breaking off pieces is quite simple.

The album I’m listening to right now is another one from PC Davidoff:

I used 6.3g for a 120ml zisha teapot.

There is definitely camphor in the aroma of the dry leaves. The aroma of the wet leaves still has camphor, but it also has a strong smell of a really sweet strawberry syrup. It reminds me of eating fresh pancakes with a sweet fruit syrup.

To start, I made the first infusion last 20 seconds. The color is dark amber, but the liquor is clear. It’s a standard first infusion, but some of the sweetness is already coming through. Some of the camphor pops in the aftertaste.

The second infusion was 25 seconds. The color is darker amber, and the liquor is still clear. Taking a sip immediately coats my whole mouth with a thick syrup-y sweetness. This experience is exactly why this is currently my favorite shu puerh.

The aftertaste has some of the sweetness, but also a tiny hint of camphor.

I made the third infusion last 35 seconds, but I still feel that was not long enough. Most of the sweetness is gone. It does still feel thick and syrupy, though.

The fourth infusion was a lot longer; probably around a minute. While waiting for this infusion to be ready, the Qi started to hit. All of a sudden, I felt light-headed and dreamy…

The longer infusion time brought back the sweetness from before. The aftertaste also has traces of that sweetness. A gentle warmth is also flowing through my whole body.

I noticed that the sweetness increases after letting it cool off a bit more.

Doing a fifth infusion with around 2 minutes steeping time. This one is still sweet and thick.

I could keep on going with this tea, which is exactly what I did. I did additional infusions without keeping track.

Conclusion

The early part of the session was more about the flavors, while the latter part was more about the sensorial experience. This resulted in a dreamy state, and I experienced a gentle warming flow in my body.

If you’re interested in this tea and want to find out why this is my favorite shou puerh right now, you can buy it over here.

It’s one of Xin An Chu‘s teas that has been around for a while, and I wonder why not more people are buying it. It’s really good value for money.