I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad Tai Ping Hou Kui but does this tea live up to the Supreme added onto the name? I think not but still a good brew.
First I have to critique Tealyra’s instructions. Use 1 tsp of tea. Really???!! Like how do I get those massive straight leaves in a spoon? They need to revise this and change to weight measurement. Then to steep 2 – 3 min. I think that’s far to long for this tea. I brewed 1 min and even at that time some faint bitterness comes through.
I brewed this in my test tube gaiwan (Love that gaiwan!). 1 min and just eyeballed the amount. It’s fruity- something I always love about this type of tea. A bit vegetal, light sweetness, and a bit of bitterness creeping through. Unless, I need to revise my steeping method, I would say this is not a tea that is “Supreme”. It’s still a nice cup though.
Flavors: Fruity, Sweet, Vegetal
Try this one grandpa style if you don’t mind having to deal with the leaves, just keep adding warm water to disperse that bitter note.