Gunpowder

Brought this one with me to class today, which may not have been the best idea because the water temps at school vary so much. It was actually unusually piping hot today, and I didn’t wait long enough for it to cool before steeping the tea, so it ended up more bitter than usual. I think the strong smoky taste helped mask the bitterness a bit, though, so it all worked out. Plus, when I’m in the middle of lecture, I’m not too picky about what tea I have as long as it helps me focus, haha.

I enjoyed this gunpowder, it’s creamy and a bit smoky – perfect for mixing with mint for my own Moroccan Mint blend! Yummeh,

Full review:
http://www.daisychubb.com/gunpowder-green-by-the-persimmon-tree/

Loose
Appearance: grey green gunpowder curls
Aroma when Dry: dusty, sour grassy
After water is first poured: sweet, grassy
At end of first steep: juicy, grassy
Tea liquor:
At end of first steep: hints of green
Staple? Type no, brand acceptable
Preferred time of day: any
Taste:
At first ?: heavy vegital, creamy close
As it cools?: notes deepen, tea gets bodied
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Buttery notes

Oh! When they say that this tea is tightly curled, they aren’t kidding. The curls were so tiny and cute! Admittedly they unfurled to not very large leaves. Is that a good or bad thing?

The dry smell is like the tea smell in the tea section of the asian supermarket. It smells familiar, and I wonder if it’s very popular among green tea varieties. I’m still getting used to the idea of green tea varieties beyond “green, Jasmine, roasted, matcha, sencha”. Haha before Steepster, that was pretty much all I could identify by taste alone, not that I can say that I would be able to distinguish this as gunpowder on taste/smell, but maybe someday!!

This green tea is like BOOM! HELLO! I really really like it! And yet it doesn’t carry any odd flavors or notes I would distinguish as green tea. Alot of greens people describe as ‘grassy’ or ‘vegetal’ and I’m starting to see/understand that in some of the ones I’ve tried. This however to me tastes like straight up green tea, there is no other way to describe this flavor in my mind, and breaking it down to notes seems fussy. It’s beautiful and classic. I would PROBABLY like to try other gunpowder greens out there to see if I could tell the difference, but I do like this and would happily serve it to anyone wanting ‘just green tea’.

This is a very exceptional tea. I normally don’t think a ton of gunpowder greens, as they mostly are just tasty and traditional and can hold up to a few steeps. This one is very vegetal but also smoky and smooth. There is no bitterness, and can also hold up to a few steeps. Very, very good.