Special Gunpowder China Green Tea

A review of Special Gunpowder China Green Tea by Temple of Heaven

Company: Temple of Heaven
Tea Name: Special Gunpowder China Green Tea
Tea Type/Varietal: Green
Region: Shanghai China
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: light yellow-green
Leaf Characteristics: Tea leaves are tightly rolled pellets and smelling of smoke…roasted scent and when brewed leaves a fuller and smelling of spinach. Actually when brewed they do look like a plate of spinach. The Chinese call these small pellets “Pearl Tea”.

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 190 Fahrenheit
Time: 2 minutes

This tea I purchased during my visit to the Living Earth market in Worcester, MA. It was very inexpensive and a gem in a little box. When I opened the box I thought I would find powder tea; I was pleasantly surprised to see it was leaves medium-finely crunched.

I took 1 teaspoon of the leaves and put this in my cup and add the boiled water into my cup. I leave it to steep for several minutes; after sometime, I take the tea and spoon out the leaves; they are somewhat fuller and look like spinach.

The teas’ aroma is that of green veggies and smells mildly astringent; tea’s color is light green with a yellow base and with longer steeps the tea is a golden brown. Tea tastes mild and smooth with a nutty flavor. It only gets bitter when tea leaves are left for longer in the cup as I tend to do; from being lazy in having to remove the tea leaves.

I had read and heard so much of gunpowder tea that it was a treat to finally see it in a store and the pricing was right as well; I did wonder why it was so inexpensive however. It is a good cup of refreshing green tea and I am happy to finally have sampled and purchase it.

I am fortunate this year since I have been able to experience finer teas than before.

Still not qualified to rate this one yet. I brewed up a nice strong cup of this baby today…to mix with rum, lemon juice, and honey. I’m sick sick sick; having caught a cold the Thursday before last, getting the flu last Monday, having my cold worsen this past Thursday, study and take my pediatrics final (Friday night, and Saturday morning respectively), then have the cold get even worse (somehow) last night. So, it was definitely time for a hot toddy today.
My regular 12 oz. cup of tea made with two big teaspoons of this gunpowder,
about an ounce and a half of rum, a squirt of lemon juice (a slice of lemon is best), and a tablespoon of local honey. Yum. Soothes the throat.

I used to buy this tea in the Asian grocery store long before I ever bought a tea online, before I even knew that green teas required lower temperature. I loved it then, so when I saw it on Amazon while I was putting together an order I picked one up. The Amazon price was rather high but I bought it anyway. I think I paid $6.50 or so. It sells in the Asian market for less but my Asian market has not had it in a while. My first attempt at this today was botched and tremendously over brewed so I dumped it and started again. This time I lowered the water temp to 160 degrees, dropped it to 2 tsp leaf, and lessened the steep time to 30 seconds. I got a nice tasting, somewhat floral cup with the right light yellow/green color, not the dark brew I got with 3 minutes and 3 tsp leaf. I don’t think I would buy this again at Amazon, but it is a good indication of how my tastes for tea have changed. I used to over brew this tea on purpose because I thought at the time that all tea deserved a dark color.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 2 tsp leaf and 160 degree water for 30 sec.

Cheap tea!

I don’t mean that in a bad way. I got a half pound box of this for $1.99 in China Town.

I’ve tried this tea so many ways. Iced, cold brewed, hot, mixed with stuff and in the end, I prefer it hot with mint (like a sort of Moroccan Mint without the sugar) or cold brewed with fresh fruit (straining the fruit and tea leaves out after). The gunpowder green is robust enough to not be overpowered by the mint or fruit.

By itself, the tea is pretty good. A little bit smokey. It’s not the highest quality tea, but for $1.99, I’m not expecting it to be. For the price point, it’s a really good deal.

One negative is it’s very dusty, so even after straining, there is a bit of sediment on the bottom of my cup.

I bought this tea in my local grocery store for $0.99/100g. Yep, really that cheap. So how does it taste for the price?

In my opinion, pretty darn good. I wouldn’t say it’s THE BEST green tea I’ve had, because it’s certainly not. It has a bit of a bitter after-taste no matter how long you steep it, and has a bit of strange colour after steeping. It has a bit of a “mouthy” feel while drinking that’s hard to describe. But for 99 cents? You can’t beat it.

I like to mix this tea with some dried fruit (or even fruit-based teas) to give it a bit of a flavour-kick. Dried apple and mango are especially good. The smoky flavour of the tea is nicely balanced by the sweetness of the fruit. I don’t put sweetner in it whether it’s straight or mixed with fruit.