Tai Ping Hou Kui Tea

• 3gr/200ml
• 75°C
• 2-3 min infuse

This green tea comes from anhui province in China. In the mountainous massif Huang Shang (Yellow Mountain) it is very humid and there is frequent fog, ideal to produce this Tai Ping Hou Kui or Monkey Picked Tea. The tea is known for the beautiful large leaves of sometimes up to 10-15cm, which only occur in this province. The structure of the cloths between which this tea is dried is also beautifully visible. The taste of this tea is vegetal and a bit filming in the mouth. The tea gives a velvety mouthfeel and is much softer and more delicate in taste than most grassy green tea, despite its large leaves suggest. The tea belongs to the top 10 of the best tea in China and was given by President Hu Jintao in 2007 as a gift to President Vladimir Putin.

Taiping Houkui is a historical Chinese tea that was already produced during the Qing Dynasty in Anhui province. The name Houkui (猴魁) means the Monkey King. According to legend, the Taiping Houkui tea tree was transformed from the monkey king who fell ill and died in the mountain area after losing his son. A farmer discovered this sad incident and buried his body on the spot. The following year, some tea trees began to grow in the place where his body was buried. It is believed that the tea trees were transformed by the monkey king who gave them to the farmer as a token of appreciation for his kind deed. The farmer took good care of the tea tree, harvested the leaves and made this sharply formed tea from it. From that moment on, his unique taste and aroma received a lot of attention in the villages and he became popular and famous.