Premium Tai Ping Hou Kui Green Tea

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.

This tea has a swampy, smokey aroma. It taste vegetal, but I do not get the usually veggie flavors of a green tea. I am having trouble with this one, maybe bok choy mixed with green bell pepper and a little bit of black pepper. It is definitely a unique tasting green tea.

Brewed in a glass, grandpa-style. I started drinking after a 1-minute steep.

This is probably one of those instances in which I taste a tea so differently from everyone else, or it’s probably this particular batch.

When I stuck my nose into the sample packet, I didn’t expect it smell like certain shengs I dislike: black pepper, beef stew, and a hint of apricot I was able to pull out from somewhere. As the leaves steeped in the glass, I smelled buttered popcorn.

The liquor is green-ish, full-bodied, cream-like, and savory. The flavor is very buttery (even near salty) with notes of Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and beans with a green pepper finish. I dislike green peppers, more so in my tea, if it’s not subtle. Not for me.

Thank you Angel of Teavivire for sending me this sample.

I have never had Tai Ping Hou before. I found the long flat leaves pretty, and since they were too big to properly fit in my infuser I steeped them in my french press. The tea has a green bean flavor with a little sweetness. There was a hint of a grassy note, but the flavor was mostly bean. The liquid was thick. In fact, the consistency reminded me of a thin syrup. Overall I thought this was a nice tea. The flavor was clean and crisp, and there was no mineral note or lingering aftertaste.

Backlog:

LOVE! I love a good Tai Ping Hou Kui and this is an excellent one. As it had been a while since my last cup of Tai Ping, I had to think a bit on how I was going to steep the tea. I would normally steep a green tea in my Breville One-Touch but I do like to watch the dance of the Tai Ping leaves so I instead decided to brew this in my glass teacup.

A sweet and gentle aroma accompanies a flavor that is sublime. Sweet, hints of orchid, light grassy tones and a touch of butter. Creamy and sweet and delightful.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/06/28/premium-tai-ping-hou-kui-green-tea-from-teavivre/

When I opened the package I was greeted with amazing bright long tea leaves. I did a 5 seconds rinse and first steep was 30 seconds. It has a green color and a grassy taste, which I like a lot. This is an afternoon tea that complimented really well my home baked dates squares. 2nd brew time was 1 minute and still a nice color and grassy taste. I love the huge tea leaves.

Tai Ping Hou Kui teas are so much fun!! Seriously, it’s just a whimsical experience. The dry leaf aroma is so hearty and green. The leaves are just so cool to look at and hold. It’s such a silly tea! I’m a bit sad that the summer is at an end.. because it’s just not very fun to drink green teas in the colder months… and I guess I have to race to finish this tea before it goes bad. (If anyone wants some green teas/mid-quality FF darjeelings please let me know… I’m totally willing to sell my extra for a super low price)

I’m not sure the taste of this tea is too different for me than most other Chinese greens I’ve had. It is vegetal, nutty, and mildly sweet with a bit of green bean flavor.

What does stand out to me immensely is how thick the mouthfeel is. It is very heavy and very syrupy. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I really like that. As for the flavor, however, I feel a bit non-reactive. It’s very Zen and all, but I prefer to be wowed by my teas.

After a short visit at Amariel’s yesterday, my tea count jumped by 20 to a big 70- and here I was doing so well. I didn’t know where to start so I let my roommate randomly select one of the dozen green tea samples from the bag for the evening’s pot. This one was the winner.

The vibrant green leaves look and smell like seaweed, but once steeped the brew is more akin to beans, with a drop or two of honey. There’s a lot more going on in this tea, especially in the second steep, but I can’t pin most of the flavours. It’s a beautiful and gentle tea to wind down to for the evening. This cup has peace and tranquility written all over it (sappy but true).

Thank you, Amariel, for sharing this lovely sample with me!

Thank you Stephanie for generously sending me this sample!

It’s a little late for me to be drinking caffeine, but I just woke up from a nap. I was kept awake last night by a snoring boyfriend and a mosquito bite that had me itching. Hopefully the caffeine in this won’t keep me awake later…

This tea is so interesting looking. I love the long slender leaves that are bright green and look pressed flat, almost as though someone had ironed them. I decided to steep this at 170 F for around 3 minutes.

The tea liquor is a light yellowish-green. I definitely get the green bean flavor here but what’s amazing about this green is how sweet it is. The sweetness lingers in your mouth long after you’re done sipping it. It seems really fresh and light which is also good. Teavivre has so many good green teas and I was really glad I got to try this one. I wonder if anyone’s tried cold brewing it? It’s tasty.