Teavivres description. “A fabulous tasting green tea from Anhui. With uniquely shaped large flat leaves, TaiPing HouKui is quite different from other green teas and is thought of as one of China’s top ten teas. Our tea comes from the village of HouKeng, where the tea was first developed.”
Expectations. I’ve heard so many great reviews, so I’m expecting this to be a great experience.
Steeping. First, I didn’t have any clue how to brew this, since I don’t possess a tea pitcher and my gongfu glass teapot was accidentally dropped on the floor and shattered.
Eventually I ended up with my Ikea glass cup, it’s made in China at least! It was messy, but it worked. I used “Fire and Ice” -style (it sounded fun) pouring ice cold water onto the leaves first and after dumping the cold water I poured 85C water to steep the tea. First steep was 1min 30s and after that I just added +1min with 3g grams of tea.
Appearance. Really, really big, flat dark green leaves. They remind a bit of nori sheets. They have a nice fabric pattern from straightening. Spent leaves turn olive green. The brew is light, vibrant green colour.
Aroma. Really bold and savoury. It’s similar to sencha, a bit of marine like, vegetal green bean/pea aroma.
Tasting. My favourite part. Premium Tai Ping Hou Kui has bold vegetal flavour. Green beans, pea and a bit of nuts, not a sweet flavour. It has a bit astringency. Again, the first thing coming to my mind is sencha, which is not bad at all. I’m digging this.
Comments. This tea is great fun! I got a really weird kicks from those gigantic leaves. The reviews were right, this was a great tea experience. I give this a solid 90. 75-80 for flavour and 100 for looks.
Will I buy it again? Definitely, it’s a bit expensive but I just love those leaves, I want to see them again.
Flavors: Almond, Green Beans, Mineral, Peas, Salt, Vegetables, Vegetal
