I’ve been drinking a lot of tea lately, but haven’t been posting tasting notes. For one thing, it’s been way too hot this summer, and for another, I’ve been drinking through some big packs of oolong. I bought a sample of this Tai Ping Hou Kui in my Seven Cups order this spring, and they generously gave me an entire 25 g bag. I steeped about 18 of these long, flat leaves in 250 ml of 185F water starting at 4 minutes, refilling the cup as needed until the tea faded.
The dry aroma of these big, beautiful leaves is of heady orchids, sap, and green beans. The first steep has notes of orchid, green beans, asparagus, butter, and sap. The tea is quite soft, though the flavours are fairly pronounced. In subsequent steeps, I get strong orchid notes, plus sweet pea, gardenia, peach, green beans, asparagus, grass, and sap. The final infusions are pretty vegetal, with notes of grass, green beans, and asparagus.
The tea has a great floral, peachy flavour and a spicy/sappy note that contrasts with it nicely. However, I didn’t think it had great longevity and the taste wasn’t particularly complex. While I liked it more than the TPHK I bought from Teavivre last year, I’m not sure I need this tea in my life every spring.
Flavors: Asparagus, Butter, Floral, Gardenias, Grass, Green Beans, Orchid, Peach, Sap, Smooth, Vegetal
