Taiping Houkui
太平猴魁 · Monkey King
Green
They say the monkeys planted this tea. An old grave-tender in the fog below Huangshan buried a monkey that had died searching for its lost child, and woke the next morning to a hillside covered in tea trees given to him in thanks.
The living tea is stranger than the story. Each shoot of the big-leaf plant is pressed flat between two mesh screens, one shoot at a time, until it comes out longer than a finger and completely flat.
Nothing else in China looks like it. For all that work it comes out pale and quiet, cool and orchid-like, and it asks nothing of you.
- orchid
- bamboo
- delicate
- Origin
- Taiping (Huangshan), Anhui
- Water
- 80°C / 176°F
- Ratio
- 3 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- Medium
- Rinse
- Not needed
China GI product; Panama Pacific gold 1915; King of Tea 2004; state gift 2007
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~3.0g of tea
The session
4 infusions, about 4m 50s of total contact time.
- Steep 145sBamboo air, barely there yet.
- Steep 21mOrchid unfolds along the long leaf.
- Steep 31m 20sA savory hush, almost umami.
- Steep 41m 45sCool sweetness, the fog closing back.
Also sold as
Tai Ping Hou Kui, Monkey Tea, T'ai-p'ing Hou-k'uei, Opičí náčelník
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.