Taiping
A county in southern Anhui producing Taiping Houkui, whose enormous flat pressed leaves are unlike anything else in Chinese green tea. The local Shi Da cultivar and the pressing step are both specific to this small area.
Elevation
Recorded at 200–800 metres.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
When it is picked
A single early-spring pick to a large two-leaf-and-bud standard rather than a bud-only one — Taiping Houkui needs long leaf, so it is picked to a coarser standard than most famous greens while still being an early-spring tea. The pressing that flattens it has to happen within hours, which ties processing capacity to picking rate.
How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.
How the name is written
Also transliterated as tai ping. Romanisations of a district name vary by system and by vendor, and a packet spelling one way is not describing a different place.
Teas this region is known for
- Taiping Houkui — Mild and orchid-scented, with a striking cooling quality in the finish and almost no astringency despite the large leaf.
Other teas recorded from here
Other growing regions in China
The neighbouring districts are the useful comparison: they share a country, a grading convention and often a cultivar, so what differs between them is closer to terroir than anything a cross-border comparison can isolate.
- Ailao Mountains
- Anhua
- Anji
- Anxi
- Bada Mountain
- Bailin
- Beiyuan
- Bingdao
- Bulang
- Changxing (Guzhu)
- Dongting Mountain
- Duyun
- Emei Mountain
- Enshi
- Fengqing
- Fu’an
- Fuding
- Fuzhou
- Gande
- Hekai
- Hengxian
- Huangshan
- Huoshan
- Jinggu
- Jingmai
- Jingyang
- Junshan Island
- Lao Ban Zhang
- Laoshan
- Lincang
- Lingtou
- Lu’an
- Lushan
- Manzhuan
- Meijiawu
- Meitan
- Mengding Mountain
- Menghai
- Mengku
- Mengsong
- Nanjing (Yuhua)
- Nannuo Mountain
- Phoenix Mountain
- Pingshui
- Pu’er (Simao)
- Qimen
- Rizhao
- Shengzhou
- Shifeng (Lion Peak)
- Songyang
- Tanyang
- Tianmu Mountain
- Tongmu Guan
- Tunxi
- Weishan
- Wenzhou
- Wudong Mountain
- Wuyi Mountains
- Wuyuan
- Wuzhou
- Xianghua
- Xigui
- Xihu (West Lake)
- Xinyang
- Xiping
- Xishuangbanna
- Xiushui
- Ya’an
- Yangloudong
- Yibang
- Yibin
- Yichang
- Yingde
- Yiwu
- Yixing
- Yongchun
- Youle
- Yuan’an
- Yueyang (Beigang)
- Yunnan
- Zhangping
- Zheng Yan (Wuyi core)
- Zhenghe
- Zhenjiang
- Ziyang
Sources
- TeaHQ editorial synthesis — TeaHQ
This page is TeaHQ’s own synthesis throughout. No external document stands behind the elevation band, the climate note or the character described above, which is why each carries its confidence in the open.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this region against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.
- Lu’an vs Taiping — Two Anhui areas that both break the ordinary rules of Chinese green tea plucking. Lu’an Gua Pian is made from a single mature leaf with the bud and stem deliberately removed; Taiping Houkui uses enormous leaves pressed flat. Neither uses the bud-and-leaf standard the category is built on.
- Taiping vs Huangshan — Two southern Anhui green-tea areas whose leaf could hardly look more different. Huangshan Maofeng is small and tender; Taiping Houkui has enormous flat pressed leaves unlike anything else in Chinese green tea, made from a local cultivar and a local step.