Gunpowder Green

Gunpowder tea is one of my favorite Chinese green teas – I wanted to try a sample of this even though I have a big bag of Red Blossom’s gunpowder at home. I am curious as to how big of a difference there is between gunpowder teas.

I might have steeped this too long – accidentally… the tea is mellow, assertive, earthy & pungent. It is vegetal in a savory way (think roasted brussels sprouts). There’s a bit of bitterness present but I think it could use a little less steeping time so chalk that up to a user error…

I think it’s interesting that in Harney’s description that almost all gunpowder is made for export. When I was in a Chinese tea shop recently they told me that “Gunpowder is not a Chinese green tea”, which I thought was kind of odd. I mean, clearly it is from there but perhaps he meant the Chinese just do not drink much of it?

Second steep I did for only about 60-90 seconds and I definitely like it better this way. The aroma is mildy smoky and the tea is still assertive and vegetal but it also has a bit of sweetness in the finish instead of bitterness so I think I got it right!

I might get this again if I needed more gunpowder tea but I really liked the lemony gunpowder from Harney! I also recommend reading the entry H&S did on this tea if you want to learn some more nifty facts about how gunpowder tea is made. :)

Gunpowder releases a definite aroma of burnt wood, definitely charred though lacking the piney smokiness of Lapsang Souchong. The medium bodied, light brown liquor carries through the notes of charred, grilled leeks.

For centuries, Gunpowder has served as the base for Arabian mint tea, sweetened with plenty of sugar. Its strong charred flavors taste wonderful with mint and citrus, but the tea is also delicious on its own.

Gunpowder is not a Qing Ming (spring tea); since it gets all its flavors from its processing methods, the tea does not require leaves with much inherent strength. It is made from tougher and less tender later-season leaves, foliage that has grown almost twice as long as leaves plucked in the earlier spring. The leaves are fixed and then fired for an extended period in a hot even until they become shiny and slightly burnt. The oven is designed like a Laundromat dryer, tumbling the leaves over and over in a hot metal cylinder.

Gunpowder is produced almost entirely for export. For many years one of the only green teas available in the United States, it has been produced for more than two hundred years near coastal trading ports like Ningbo and in its ancestral home of Zhejiang province The tea most likely gets its name from the shape of its leaves, so tightly rolled that they resemble the pellets soldiers once used as musket shot. With its balled form and heavy firing, Gunpowder is among the most stable teas for transport, ideal for export in the age before vacuum packaging and airplanes.

Today the tea is made in most provinces of China. Indeed, after the Qing Ming harvest, many tea farmers turn the rest of the year’s new leaves into Gunpowder. As a result there are many styles and many quality levels. The worst Gunpowder is bright yellow and acrid with smoky flavors; the best has charred but assuredly green, vegetal flavors.

As someone without much experience with the gunpowder variety of green, I decided to play some Russian roulette and brew up a batch. After spinning the cylinder and smelling the brew, one word comes to mind: smoky! The scent reminds me of a freshly extinguished campfire. This is not a warm and cozy aroma! On the outset, this bold scent has me concerned. I don’t want my tea tasting like an ashtray.

Upon sipping, I’m pleasantly surprised. This green has a fairly-strong, earthy taste. Subtlety-hidden is a honey-like hint. But that is quickly forgotten when a more smoky flavor comes barreling in. After a few cups, the blood is definitely rushing to the head. Be prepared, this is a tea that unquestionably has a strong caffeine content.

Harney and Sons describe this as a “a good everyday green tea”. I disagree. As an everyday green tea, I want something sweeter, softer, and less offending. Only some sort of adrenaline junkie would want this daily. Occasionally, for a smoky-mature jolt, this tea may work. I stumble out of this game of Russian roulette shaken, but alive to see another day.

This was a good green tea. It was a little more “grassy” smelling and more vegetal than the Dragon Well green tea I was drinking yesterday. It also had little of the nutty taste that was present in the Dragon Well.

Hello smokey flavor! I have been on a quest for a good green tea. And I found it in this one. the smokey aroma and flavors add a new dimension to green tea that I haven’t ever found before.