Tai Ping Hou Kui Green Tea

Tai Ping Hou Kui is a very particular Chinese green tea both for its area of origin and for its processing. It is harvested in a fairly inaccessible mountainous region near the village of Tai Ping in Anhui and only the tea obtained from here can take the name of Hou Kui because of the particular cultivar of camellia that grows in this area. The plants in these mountains, in fact, because of their variety, have leaves a little larger than average and a higher content of some polyphenols and natural oils. To enhance the beauty and flavors of this green tea, farmers perform only one harvest during the year towards the beginning of May so as not to stress the plant too much and preserve all the richness of the product. After harvesting, the skilful processing of this tea allows us to have a very beautiful product aesthetically and also able to make rich in flavors the liqueur obtained from the infusion of the leaves, characterized by a slightly toasted taste and very sweet and fresh vegetal notes.

Tasting – Sight and smell

The leaves of this Tai Ping Hou Kui are very long and wide, with a classic flattened shape and with the marks left by the weave of the cloths on which they are worked clearly visible on the surface. They have a bright green color, with an alternation of dark and light shades. Once infused, the aromas that the leaves release are mainly vegetable and very sweet: reminiscent of asparagus, fresh mountain grass, spinach in a pan. There are also slight floral notes and some toasted notes. The liquor in the cup is lime yellow, very bright.

Tasting Notes

GONG FU CHA

The first infusion of Tai Ping Hou Kui confirms the aromas of wet leaves: there are sweet and vegetable notes of buttered spinach and fresh salad from the garden. Light floral notes are also perceived, with references to white flowers. The umami is well present and this delicate flavor perfectly balances the sweetness of the tea. . With the second infusion then emerge further floral scents, with notes of magnolia and aquatic flowers. The vegetal scents here become even sweeter and butterier. With the third infusion and the following you can also feel a gentle toast, always combined with sweet vegetal notes that veer towards the baked thistle. There is definitely a good freshness, combined with a softness in the body very pleasant to the palate.

WESTERN

The first notes of Tai Ping Hou Kui reveal a sweet and umami character, with vegetal notes ranging from lettuce to chard, up to butter carrots. Then floral notes will follow (white flowers, gardenia) and towards the end there’s even a delicate hint of toasted peanut. The body is creamy and silky: no astringency or bitterness, not even in persistence that remains sweet and pleasantly vegetable.

Place of origin

Tai Ping Village, Anhui, China

Production

Tai PIng Hou Kui has a very classic working process for the early stages: a first step is the outdoor drying, followed by the cooking of the leaves in large woks heated to temperatures around 180 ° C, to block the enzymatic activity and prevent oxidation of the leaf. After these phases, the leaves are spread out one by one between two sheets of silk with a fairly dense grid weave and once arranged here they are flattened further with rollers that give the characteristic elongated and flattened final shape. Finally, the leaves, after a short rest, are dried of their little residual moisture with jets of hot air.

How to prepare

We highly recommend infusing Tai Ping Hou Kui tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) to better enjoy these leaves. Following this preparation, 5 grams of leaves can be used in a gaiwan of about 150 ml to make several infusions with different tastes. With water at 75°C, one can proceed with an initial infusion of 25 seconds, and after that, keeping the water at the same temperature, proceed with multiple infusions increasing the time by 10 seconds each time (25 – 35 – 45 …)

This tea has a longevity of about 5 infusions.

For a classic preparation according to the Western style, we recommend 3 grams of leaves in a 200-mL cup with water at 75°C for an infusion time of 3 minutes. If the tea is prepared in this way it is also possible to leave the leaves in the cup and as the drink is consumed you can integrate other hot water so as to make the most of these leaves so dense in flavors.

The tea can be filtered for greater ease at the moment of tasting, and also the infusion times indicated above are intended to be purely indicative, so you can also adjust according to your personal taste.

Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.

For further information about this product, read more on our BLOG