Tai Ping Hou Kui – Underhill Lounge

Tai Ping Hou Kui Green Tea from Anhui, Spring, 2018 via @yunnan_sourcing.

So, right from the start, this has a very distinct look! The individual spears of tea are 3-4 inches long and nearly completely flat. Another very unique, and labor intensive process, is used for this tea!

” Our Tai Ping Hou Kui is grown in Hou Gang village near Huangshan Mountain in Anhui. It was harvested in mid-April (first flush) from a decades old tea garden at about 300 meters. The tea is hand-fried in a wok for several minutes (kill-green) and the roasted in a four drawer system at progressively lower temperatures. This roasting is achieved in about an hour, after which the tea leaves are laid out by hand on a smooth piece of paper or fabric and then pressed between the paper and using wooden blocks. Finally the tea is low temperature roasted one more time to further reduce moisture content so that it can be stored sealed to maintain freshness. “
Yunnan Sourcing

The dry tea has a distinct sweet, grass like smell. Brewed, it shows strong tarragon/mint character, with lingering sweetness and a bit of citrus and fruit in some of the later steeps.

Brewing in a gaiwan is a little odd, you kind of have to add water and then press the tea down as it softens, a bit like making spaghetti with not quite enough water. An easier way, and possibly more attractive, would just be to put some tea in a tall clear glass, then add warm water, as you would brew dragonwell.

A bit similar to Liu An Gua Pian “Melon Seed” Green Tea, also from Anhui, at least in the tarragon/mint character. Though, I think it is an even lighter tea, with a bit less vegetal character and perhaps more sweetness and aroma. Though, if you think about the sweetness, it is more like the sweet smell of a freshly mown field of hay, rather than sugar cane type sweetness.

Fast, strong, chest based buzz.

For the record, this tea is sometimes included as “one of the “Big 10 Famous Chinese Teas” (十大中国名茶)”.

Overall, another fantastic green tea which opens my eyes to the variety of shapes, smells in the tea world.

#Tea #Cha #GreenTea #YunnanSourcing #TaiPingHouKui #AnhuiTea