Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Taiping Hou Kui

The last time we went to Seattle I brought home a bunch of teas from The Perennial Tea Room. Most of them made their way to my office, and I worked my way through them over the months. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me to record my experiences.

So this time, I'm going to talk about the two teas I bought during our trip for Renee's 14th birthday. I'll keep it short, as I'm at work, but I can always come back and add new notes later (yeah, right).

The first tea was recommended by a lean, grey-haired woman who obviously loved her product. I suspect that she was fully infused when I asked her about the Chinese green teas, as she charged in and opened about six different jars. I ended up purchasing her favorite, the Taiping Hou Kui. The envelope contains the additional caption: Great Green Monkey King - Anhui China Green. At $6.25/oz., it seems rather dear (try this one at $11/oz.!), but you can make a cup with a single teaspoon, so it should go a long way. The website says you can resteep leaves up to three times, but I only have the one steeper, and I like to alternate flavors, so I'll take the wasteful route and steep once.

The leaves themselves are long and thin, and have the expected green tea aroma, but with a flowery accent. The taste is very mild. Could I distinguish it from any other green tea? I think so. Would I buy it again? At the rate that I drink tea, and with all the varieties that are out there, I think I might get to it again when I hit 80. But it is definitely as good a green tea as any I've had.


2 comments:

  1. While you can steep the tea up to three times, the flavor profile does change with each subsequent brewing, so if you're in love with the "first brew flavor", then I recommend not brewing it more than once. If you're curious by the fact that the flavor changes in each subsequent brew, then... there ya go =)
    It was funny, I recently gave a friend samples of various green teas. She wanted to try some before buying and her jaw dropped when she saw just how many I gave her. Yes, I've turned into a tea snob, but it's a healthy habit at least.

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  2. Whoa, long time no hear!
    Thanks for the tea input.

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