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Tai Ping Hou Kui Comparison
So I’ve had a
relatively poor experience with tea this week and decided that I deserved
something special. First I thought maybe a milk oolong, but I was all out …
what next? A Four Seasons High Mountain oolong, I only have roughly nine grams
of this left so I decided against it. But I did have a large number of samples
left over from Teavivre two in particular stood out from the rest, Premium Tai Ping
Hou Kui Green Tea and Nonpareil Cha
Wang Tai Ping Hou Kui Green Tea. So I thought why not compare them
to my Premium Tai Ping
Hou Kui from Dragon Tea House.
Based
on my previous experience with this tea I know it can be brewed for longer than
what I consider normal for a green tea and still produce a lovely second
infusion and subsequent infusions. So I used thirteen large pieces in a glass
teapot for three minutes at 170°F. The dry leaves originally had a buttery
aroma, but after my first infusion it became quite rich and thick. It had a
sort of vegetal taste, but also some sweetness and a little nutty.
The
second infusion I brewed at 175°F for four and a half minutes. The buttery
aroma was a little weaker from the first, but had more of a sweet buttery aroma
versus the normal salted buttery aroma from the first infusion. The vegetal
taste was still there, the nutty undertones became more pronounced and there
was a new sickly sweet hay (not necessarily bad) taste to it.
For
the third infusion I brewed at 180°F for six minutes. This time the tea had a
floral aroma and taste, according to the description this is an orchid taste,
and I’ll trust them on that. Besides the orchid aroma, this time it smelled
vaguely like freshly cut wet grass. As for the taste, it almost entirely lost
the vegetal taste, instead the sweet hay from the last infusion became more
pronounced while still being nutty, but having a sharp citrus hint that was
quite nice. After brewing the other two teas, I reused the leaves and had a
gongfu session and brewed it ten or so more times and I did not see a large
loss in taste even in my last infusion. I have to note that with this Tai Ping
Hou Kui and the others it is not easy to brew in a medium sized gaiwan. Mine is
70ml and the leaves took up the entirety of the gaiwan.
It
is interesting that this is Teavivre’s more expensive Tai Ping Hou Kui, while it
lacks the vibrant green leaves of the slightly cheaper version and the leaves
are slightly bigger than the other version. Regardless this is still an amazing
green tea. I noticed in the previous Tai Ping Hou Kui that the leaves may have
some slight variance in terms of leaf size, but the color was fairly uniform;
however with this version there was a larger variety of colors to the leaves.
Some were lustrous while others were quite dull in comparison.
Regardless
for my first infusion I brewed fourteen leaves for three minutes at 170°F. I
noticed immediately there were small black dots on nearly every leaf and indent
patterns that I am assuming came from the tray they were dried on. There was a
very strong peony aroma while not quite as nice as the previous Tai Ping Hou
Kui, it was not offensive. The taste was a little hard to describe, the best I
can describe it as is fresh cabbage and iceberg lettuce as well as sweet apple
undertone.
For
my second infusion I brewed at 175°F for four and a half minutes. This time I
was getting the buttery aroma, but it was very rich, much more decadent then
Teavivre’s cheaper version, while the peony scent began to develop more depth.
This time it had a dry vegetal taste that was overpowered by the aroma. It
almost felt that this was a scented tea at this time, but it was still
refreshing.
For
my third and final infusion I brewed at 180°F for six minutes. This was my
favorite infusion for this tea, the scent was not as overpowering as the last,
it still had the peony aroma, but there was also a grassy contrast to it. While
the tea felt very delicate it had a weak cabbage taste, a slight floral taste
and a little seaweed/unami aspect to it.
This
Tai Ping Hou Kui had the most variance in dry leaves of the three that I tried.
I found it interesting that the edges were slightly curved making the dry
leaves look like a scope, rather than the traditional flattened leaves. These
leaves were smaller than the Teavivre varieties, but had a brighter color that
was not uniform throughout the leaves, but nowhere near as dark as Teavivre’s
Nonpareil version.
I
used seventeen leaves at 170°F for three minutes for my first infusion. The
aroma and taste was considerably weaker than the other two versions I tried.
The aroma was unmistakably orchid while there was a vegetal taste it was hard
to identify because I should have brewed this tea at a higher temperature.
For
my second infusion I brewed at 185°F for six minutes, I thought of removing the
leaves around the four minute mark, but I am glad that I waited. The orchid
aroma was still there, but it more vivacious. While the tea itself was quite
effervescent, it reminded me of the liquor of a high mountain oolong. This time
there was a cucumber-vegetal and buttery taste.
Next
I brewed at 200°F for eight minutes. This infusion was drastically different
than the previous two infusions. There was a very perfumed aroma that was quite
smooth, not necessarily delicate, but still quite nice. There still was a
buttery taste, but it was overpowered by a new pear taste.
While
I enjoyed all three teas, the Premium Tai Ping
Hou Kui was the best.
I liked the Nonpareil version least as it felt the least developed and was
lacking the complexity of the other two. While Dragon Tea House’s version was
quite nice and refreshing it felt less consistent then Teavivre’s Premium
version. I noticed that each time I brewed Tai Ping Hou Kui that it felt like
it was leeching everything it could from the leaves, and was always surprised
that there still was flavor in the following infusion. I had gongfu sessions
with all three before, but the Premium Tai Ping Hou Kui could withstand around
twenty infusions, while Dragon Tea House’s could do around fifteen (but it
becomes really crazy in later infusions where it switches back and forth
between vegetal and fruity) and weirdly enough Teavivre’s Nonpareil struggles
being brewed more than ten times. I’d recommend Teavivre’s Premium Tai Ping Hou
Kui and Dragon Tea House’s Premium Tai Ping Hou Kui, I’d feel conflicted about
recommending the Nonpareil. I was expecting a more vegetal, perhaps
asparagus-esque or other dark green taste that was better than the cheaper
version, but interestingly enough it is definitely the weaker of the pair.
I love Tai Pings, I guess I have to try Teavivre. Thanks!
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