Tea Tasting: 2021 Tai Ping Hou Kiu

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I absolutely love getting tea boxes in the mail. There's an element of surprise and delight in seeing what's sent. 

This tea is from Old Ways Tea's subscription box. The box arrives every two months, and what's nice about this box is that it includes tea that she normally doesn't carry in her store. She goes out of the way to include teas from family, friends, and family friends from Wuyi to include in the box.

I'm particularly fond of this subscription box, because she sources all her teas from her home region, which predominately includes oolongs, which are a favorite.

The tea box included: Tai Ping Hou Kiu (50g). Yu Qilin (40g), and Shui Xian (48g). 

Tea Information

  • Type: Chinese Green
  • Vendor: Old Ways Tea
  • Recommendations: She recommends "grandpa style" brewing --> 3 grams in a cup of water 90C (194F). Let steep for 2 minutes. Drink 2/3, then refill. If you want thicker soup, use boiling water.
  • Cost per gram: N/A since this is part of a subscription box. 
Description from Company
Tai Ping Hou Kiu is a green tea from near Huangshan in Anhui province. Although it was created only 100 years ago, it has become well regarded and famous tea within China. The tea is known for its shape and ability to consistently produce a smooth & sweet soup with a gentle orchid fragrance.


Tea Session

The recommendation is to brew it in a cup of water, but I'm going to brew it in a tall glass to preserve the length of these beautiful leaves, and to have the water cool down as to not "burn" the leaves.  Plus, it reminds me of how my grandfather brewed tea

  • Teaware: Tall glass
  • Water Amount: ~ 234 ml (1 cup of water)
  • Tea Amount: 3grams
  • Brewing Temperatures: 
  • Time (seconds):  120 seconds
  • Aroma: Cooked corn silk, milk grass
  • Leaves:  Beautiful long strips of leaf.
  • Broth: 
    • 1st Infusion: 2 minutes. This is a very mild Chinese green. Nothing overpowers. It has mild notes of grass/corn/asparagus with a very mild afternote of astringency. It's very warming in the throat. As I got closer to the last 1/3, there was a touch of bitterness, so I filled it up again with water.
    • 2nd Infusion: 175.  Again, this is still very mild tea; with slight corn & grassy notes.
    • 3rd + Infusion: 195+ I just continued to fill up the water for a good long while. The tea never got bitter. The flavors remained for at least 5 full cups before it started to be more like water.
Figure: 1st & 2nd Steep

Summary

I like this tea. It's a bit more delicate than I'm used to in a Chinese green, but brewed in this style, it's very pleasant, and it'd be a nice to sip throughout the day. Although, I did have to use a glass cozy to pick up the still very hot glass to drink :-)

I've also got some of it as a cold brew, so it'll be an interesting comparison.

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