This week, the Tea-Totaler decided to get a little dangerous - to play with fire, even if in name only. Today we kick back with a pot of gunpowder green tea.

This style of tea is grown and processed primarily in China's Zhejiang Province, on the central coast, though there are also varieties from Taiwan (Formosa gunpowder) and Sri Lanka (Ceylon gunpowder), and it could realistically be produced wherever green tea is grown.

Simply altering a step in the processing of the leaves creates gunpowder green tea. Typical green tea leaves are first allowed to dry, then are heat-treated, allowed to wilt further, roasted for four to five minutes in a swiftly moving pan, rolled into loose balls - nowadays usually done mechanically, but at one time commonly rolled by hand or even with the feet - then roasted again and finally left to dry until the leaves have dulled to green.

The only difference with gunpowder teas is that, when the leaves are rolled, it is done more deliberately so that each individual leaf becomes a small, tight gray ball. This method is sometimes used for other kinds of teas, especially oolongs, because it dramatically increases the shelf life of the leaves. These kinds of teas may also be referred to as "gunpowder teas," but generally, this term is limited to green teas.

The appearance of these tightly-rolled, lead-colored leaves is similar to the early form of cannon or musket gunpowder, hence the unusual name. It is also sometimes called pearl tea for similar reasons, but this name can be ambiguous and misleading and is used less often.

Before learning this commonly accepted explanation, I thought "gunpowder" simply referred to the flavor of the tea itself. Green tea is normally earthy tasting, with a medium to light flavor and green-yellow color. Gunpowder green is different.

I'm not sure if I have ever had a stronger kind of green tea. The taste is astringent hedges the boundary of bitterness, while the color is much darker with a greener hue. In addition, the tight rolling of the leaves produces very little leaf dust; the liquid is less cloudy than the typical green tea.

Nevertheless, the overall biting quality seemed ample reason to give it a violent name like "gunpowder," and it still connotes thoughts of an abnormally strong green tea. In addition to these qualities, gunpowder green is also high in minerals, containing vitamin C and a day's serving of flouride.

Gunpowder green should be brewed for 3 to 4 minutes, like most green teas. Because it is a very dense blend, one can use just one teaspoon of leaves per cup. The temperature of the water should be around 155-180 degrees, which, for those of us without thermometers on our water boilers, is basically water which has been brought to a boil and then left to cool for one or two minutes.

The gunpowder green I am currently enjoying was bought at the Belfast Co-Op Store. It is recommended one look for shiny rolled leaves, which indicate the gunpowder green is fresh. Stores can get away with selling old varieties because of its long shelf life, but it will not be as high quality. While I don't claim to have seen a large amount of this tea in my life, the blend I bought recently appears to be fairly shiny and only cost $12.99 per pound.

This tea is usually recommended for drinking in the afternoon or evening, but I found it enjoyable even this morning as I wrote this column.

If you have a tea question you would like answered, or have any other comments, etc., please don't hesitate to write me at jeffrey.hake@umit.maine.edu. Thanks for reading!

Article Tools