Gunpowder

Post-workout tea……

This one is interesting. They describe it as a “rock” tea in that it really does kind of look like little rocks instead of little balled up green leaves. I am no expert on green tea, but I thought this one was interesting (and I had two small samples that thepuriTea sent with my last order so I made a whole pot). I find it slightly vegetal and there is a hint of something minty, and even a hint of ginger at the end of the sip. It is really settling my stomach (you know that pit in the stomach you sometimes get at the end of a workout? Although you can’t really call what I do vigorous by any stretch…..) The stranger thing, on the first steep, I really did not notice the leaves opening much. We will have to see what happens on the second steep. All in all, a fun and different experience…… More later….

A nice smoky, herbally green.

This really tastes and looks so much like a ginseng oolong! Really rolled up and pebbly—there’s even that herbal ginseng kind of “bite” to it. I love the smokiness in this—very mellow, not astringent at all. Kind of “dusky” and smooth with a hint of mint and sweetness.

thepuriTea’s description of this spot on. I think it’s very good!

Entire sample steeped in 500 ml. of water in the Breville at below parameters.

This was a free sample that thePuritea included with my last order. I really liked the smell of this until the boyfriend mentioned it smelled like hamster food and then that was all I smelled, grrr. Once steeped the smell still lingers, but there is an additional hay-ish note in the taste. This is quite a brothy and savory tea.

It’s not necessarily minty, but its’ after taste is. By that I mean the mouth-cooling you get when you inhale after having mint is there, but the taste of mint is not. I can see why this is the base for Moroccan Mint – it exaggerates the cooling effects of the spearmint.

Honestly, I’m not too much of a fan of the tricks being played on my palate. It probably doesn’t help matters that I’m not the biggest fan of mint, either. It was nice to try, but I won’t be ordering more of it.

I didn’t get any minty flavor on the first steep. It had a lovely veggie flavor to it that I really enjoyed. I shared it with my breakfast buddy to wash the Lipton away. Friend loved it…I love converting people to good tea. I’m enjoying a second steeping now and the minty flavor is coming out to play, making this very refreshing! I might try this iced if I can get a third steep out of it that is.

I still need to try one sample per day! So this was it today. I opened this tea up expecting to find the balled up leaves, but instead, I found coated balled up leaves! They do resemble little rocks in a river. So beautiful and from the look of it, I figured it would be sweet. Anything coated makes me think of sugar! I’ve tried coated oolongs but not gunpowders. Dry, this tea smelled very sweet and herbal and slightly roasted.

Steeped, it was a nice golden honey in color. The scent was strong and sweet again. The taste was nice! It is green and vegetal (but not in the grassy sort of way). The sweetness lingers on my tongue with gentle spices like ginger and ginseng. The sweet aftertaste, however, reminds me of splenda or one of those artificial sugars. I am not a big fan of those.

I am battling a headache right now, so I hope this makes it better and not worse. I will attempt another steep as the leaves have not fully opened. They are still encased in their shells!

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that I really enjoyed hearing the pop and crackle of the rock leaves as they opened up. I did another steep of this and it still maintained great taste. I still am bothered by the splenda aftertaste though.

My humans found that this tea tasted quite different form the description on the company’s site. This is the case with many teas. Didn’t matter. Still superb. Check out the photos and details:

I got this as a sample with my order and I have to say, the whole tea leaves as little rocks concept is very weird and very cool.
I’m on a third steeping and I don’t think I can drink anymore, I could steep it a few more times because it just keeps getting better. In fact, this is probably the best cup so far. I’m finally getting that spearmint taste. The first two were okay, mostly a roasty, vegetal taste without any sign of mint. But this I like. Still get a lot of roasted flavor, but now the spearmint is almost the dominant flavor.

Maybe just one more time…ahhh.

Oddly enough when I just put the mug down for a minute, the taste lingering in my mouth feels like I just finished a spearmint hard candy. This gets sweeter as you sip it, it’s very cool! I’m definitely going to think about getting this in the future.

This stuff is amazing. So incredibly sweet and toasty tasting. I’m normally not a huge fan of gunpowder greens but this one is the best I’ve ever had.

I agree that this tea is “surprisingly minty.” After drinking it, I get that coolness in my mouth that you get after eating mints. Other than that, though, this tea didn’t taste like much. A little sweet, with a roasted aroma that I can’t really find in the taste. I’ve tried brewing it all different kinds of ways with different amounts of leaf, but I can’t get it any stronger. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t buy more of it.