Quest for the real Tai Ping Hou Kui

[JRS22]

I took Chip's advice about brewing and tried my Teaspring Cha Wang Tai Ping Hou Kui at 156 degress for 1 minute. There was no smokiness in the first steeping, but it was missing the sweetness and floweriness other posters have referred to here.

The smokiness shows up in later steeps. Interestingly enough while the Teaspring web site describes the tea as sweet and flowery, the Jing site describes it as "Clean and subtle orchid fragrance in good purity combines with an enjoyable smoky note". The tea was also described in the Heiss book as earthy, rich and vegetal, so I may have the wrong expectation about the tea. Earthy and smoky may be similar flavor notes.

[Oni]

There are 2 types of TPHK, the traditional method requires charcoal heating, thus the smoly tone, the more modern versions use electrical heating, this is why some are little bit smoky, some aren`t.

[JRS22]

There are 2 types of TPHK, the traditional method requires charcoal heating, thus the smoly tone, the more modern versions use electrical heating, this is why some are little bit smoky, some aren`t.

Interesting - so the more commercial grade of TPHK that I purchased 2 years ago might be more to my liking than the Cha Wang version that I purchased this year. A bit too much charcoal heating, or a bit too much sensitivity to the taste on my part, could explain my experience.

I never had a chance to follow up with Teaspring about the tea that I purchased - now I'll write and include a question about the heating process in my response.

[Chip]

The Cha Wang I had a few years ago from TS (and the regular version too from TS) had no smokiness whatsoever.

It is possible their sourcing has changed?!?

[JRS22]

The Cha Wang I had a few years ago from TS (and the regular version too from TS) had no smokiness whatsoever.

It is possible their sourcing has changed?!?

Still haven't sent the email - I'll try to work this in. I received a follow-up email checking on the order so I'll reply to that.

[JRS22]

Teaspring replied promptly to my email as follows:

Thank you for your feedback. Hou Kui processed using hand does have a little smoky taste, but this should be very minimal and won't be noticed by most people. The processing of this tea involves two baking and roasting process.
Try using a tall glass (see attached) for brewing. We found this brings the best of out of this tea. Also, can you let us know the amount of tea leaves that you used.

The photo showed a tall glass with the tai ping hou kui leaves standing upright in the water. In my next Teaspring order I'll include the standard TPHK and practice brewing in a glass.

[Chip]

Thanks for sharing this communication! Maybe you are one of the more sensitive to the smokiness?

[JRS22]

I'm one of the people that's overly sensitive to bitter taste. As for smokiness, I'm not sure it would have bothered me as much if I expected it. I'll pay more attention to it in the future.

In any case, I was really pleased to see how promptly Teaspring responds to emails, because I would like to become a steady customer.

Now I have to find a large glass for brewing tea - perhaps an old beer stein after the bell is removed?

[bagua7]

Another green I will purchase for sure. And another hole in my wallet, but hey such is life.