Geographically, Xigui is located in Lincang City, Yunnan Province, east of Mengku Town. Bingdao, on the other hand, lies north of Mengku Town, with a certain distance from Xigui. Additionally, the two teas differ in tea tree varieties. Xigui mainly uses large-leaf tea trees, while Bingdao is dominated by small-leaf ones. This difference affects not only the taste of the tea but also its processing methods and techniques.
- Bingdao: The moment the tea soup enters your mouth, you first feel an extraordinary sweetness and smoothness, as if dissolving a piece of rock sugar. It has no strong aggressiveness, yet it can “overcome hardness with softness” and conquer you with its long-lasting and mellow charm.
- Xigui: As the tea soup enters your mouth, you can immediately feel its strong inner vitality. It has a high and prominent aroma, with a rapid sweet aftertaste, as if telling you about its strength and uniqueness.
1. Aroma
- Bingdao: Its core aroma is “rock sugar sweetness”. This aroma is integrated into the tea soup; the sweetness you taste spreads a cool, sweet sensation from the mouth to the throat, lingering for a long time. Its aroma leans more towards a pure “sweet melody”.
- Xigui: Its aroma is much more complex, a typical combination of “orchid fragrance” and the unique “dried mushroom aroma” (also known as rock rhythm). This aroma is high, prominent, and aggressive. It can not only be smelled but also distinctly tasted, creating a very three-dimensional and memorable olfactory experience in the mouth.
2. Tea Soup
- Bingdao: The texture of its tea soup is known for being “soft, smooth, and thick”. It slides into the mouth extremely smoothly, with a full texture, like a piece of top-grade silk gliding down the throat. There is almost no astringency, or the astringency is so faint that it is barely perceptible.
- Xigui: Its tea soup is described as “delicate” yet “powerful”. Its texture is also fine, but you can feel that the tea soup “slides” down with a sense of strength, rather than being plain and uneventful. It is usually accompanied by a slight but noticeable astringency, which fades very quickly and is rapidly transformed into a refreshing fluid sensation in the mouth.
3. Tea Vigor
- Bingdao: Its tea vigor is of the slow-permeation type. You may need to drink several cups before gradually feeling the tea vigor rising from the depths of your throat, then warming up your whole body. Its sweet aftertaste is long-lasting and enduring.
- Xigui: Its tea vigor is of the rapid-impact type. Soon after swallowing the tea soup, a strong mellow charm and sweet aftertaste instantly fill the mouth. The fluid sensation in the mouth appears extremely quickly and strongly, with a profound lingering effect in the throat, immediately making people aware of its “domineering” essence.
Purchase Recommendations
In actual tasting and purchasing, you can refer to the following points:
- Choose based on taste preference: If you pursue extreme sweetness, mellow taste, and a mild tea nature, choose Bingdao. If you prefer a high, prominent aroma, strong tea vigor, and a layered taste, choose Xigui.
- Key points to focus on during tasting: When tasting Bingdao, pay attention to its unique rock sugar sweet melody and soft, smooth soup texture. When tasting Xigui, experience its unique aroma, rapid sweet aftertaste, and impactful tea vigor.
- Purchase reminder: There are many counterfeit products of both Xigui and Bingdao on the market. It is recommended to buy through reliable channels. If the price is too low, you should be more cautious.