This is an authentically rare tea, as Bian Xiao Zhuan (tea brick of Bian Xiao Cha) itself is a term of past, nowadays, no any factory is still producing Bian Xiao Zhuan. 
 
After being produced in the famous Menghai Factory, our 1996 Bian Xiao Zhuan has been well aged in a proper dry storage, 14 years in Kunming and then 11 years in Shanghai. The leaves are naturally deep-oxidized, in a charring state to a certain extent, giving an extremely fine and smooth texture of the liquor that can be never found in any younger Ripe/Shou Puerh artificially oxidized during the fermentation process, so that you even don't really feel the act of swallowing, the liquor just slides down slickly through the throat. Unlike the deep fermented young Ripe/Shou, which usually brings a dark and opaque liquor with unrefined flavors, the liquor of this tea is properly transparent, bright and sticky, together with very clean aging aroma, some notes of sticky rice, pleasantly moist wood… some subtle hints of old leather and tobacco, and a warm sweetness. All these owe to the property of Bian Xiao Cha, being made from mature harvest, which contains more gustatory substances than tender leaves, thus it has been able to develop its complex taste along 25 years of aging process.
 
 What's Bian Xiao Cha? 
 
Since Tang Dynasty, in 8th century, tea started to be an important item in the goods exchange between central China and Tibet. On the tea horse road, the central government exported tea and brought back horses. For over one thousand years, the tea sold to the remote northwest and southwest border land was considered as monopolized goods, same as salt. In certain ages it was even banned to trade with money, only for barter. Until 1984, tea was still one of the supplies in the planned economy system of China, and even since the government opened the tea market for free trade in 1984, the teas specifically sold to the border areas were still controlled during many years, those, mainly Puerh, Heicha and few black teas, are Bian Xiao Cha, literally, "tea sold to border land". Bian Xiao Cha are mainly made with material of lower grade, and contain mature leaves and stems, as the main usage is for the minorities of the remote areas to make milk tea or butter tea.