Taiping Houkui

Today I’m sampling Taiping Houkui and Taiping Houkui Superior next to each other. The difference between these two teas is that the regular one is processed partially by machine and the superior is entirely hand processed. There’s also a fairly significant difference in the price, to account for the amount of extra labour that goes into hand processing.

I believe this is my first time having Taiping Houkui.

The dry leaf is beautiful. Large, uniform, very flat and thin, in an intense medium green colour. These leaves are definitely unique and interesting. They smell of seaweed and umami, with just a hint of maple. Compared to the Superior, the smell is less sweet and slightly less refined smelling.

I steeped 1g of leaf in 50ml of 80C water, three times, for 60 , 60 and 90 seconds.

Steeped, the leaf smells nutty and grassy, with lots of umami. The leaf is truly beautiful – the long, flat leaves turn int bright green ribbons in my gaiwan.

The tea soup is a pale yellow green and crystal clear. Smell is very mild, almost non-existent. The faint whiff that I do catch is vegetal.

The first steep is delicious, smooth. The dominant flavours are seaweed, umami, nutty, with a touch of grass. The light colour of the soup belies the pungent, mouth filling flavour this has. The intensity of the flavour fades quickly in the finish, and a milder, tangy edge lingers in the mouth for a while. This has a medium body, one of the most noticeable differences between these teas.

After the first steep these teas diverge quite a lot. The second steep is mellow, nutty and a touch astringent. The umami remains. The third is quite grassy and the sweetness is gone. The astringency builds a little bit, but still remains mild and pleasant.

After three steeps, I believe these leaves are done.

Both teas are excellent. The differences are hard to pick out at first but really come out after the first steep. I enjoyed the Superior slightly more, though if you focus strictly on the experience of the tea, I think this one is a better value. If you factor in the handcrafting, well, I think everyone values that a bit differently in their tea experience.

Samples provided by Nannuoshan.

I got my Nannuoshan samples today, and had to crack both of my Taipings and compare them! So I measured out 3g and got to it!
Appearance: Large leaves! Much flatter and longer than the superior. You can see clearly the markings of the metal mesh they were baked on. The color is a vibrant green, like young grass.

Dry Leaf Aroma: Vegetal, like bok Choy. A very light kissing of delicate flowers.
Wet Leaf Aroma: Savory and buttery. A light sweetness present.
Liquor Colour: Nuclear green, one shade brighter than the superior

Steep #1: 150ml, 60sec, 80C. Slight astringency, savory and light mouthfeel.
Steep #2: 150ml, 60sec, 80C. Pretty satisfying, buttered vegetables.
Steep #3: 150ml, 1min 30sec, 80C. Liquor still bright green, tannins became more drying. Still smooth.

The bottom line: While this tea carried out a lot of flavor in the first steeping, it lost a good amount in the subsequent brews. This was a turbo-charged version of the superior. The differences were slight, but quite noticeable. It’s not hard to see which one is considered the higher grade.

https://instagram.com/thelast_dodo/p/zTr9KyKH5M/

https://instagram.com/thelast_dodo/p/zTrCwBKH4G/

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I definitely love green teas and this one particularly struck me ’cause of its long, flat and large leaves so i bought it. I have to admit that it is very agreeable and not bitter.
I use to brew it 3 times (1m/1m/1,30m 150ml each time) but I also tried to brew it 3m in 450ml and I like it in either case but I prefer the three infusions because it changes flavour becoming less grassy and more sweet.
I am pleasantly surprised about the freshness of the tea, it has a delicate and fresh smell.
Thanks Nannuoshan to find and get these fantastic teas!