IS Gunpowder real green tea?

Question

I got about 4 ounces of this in my order from Ten Ren. I drank it years ago, and I remember it was a strong tea... but at the time I wasn't aware it was green, I thought it was just a black tea.

It makes an excellent cup of tea, especially for the price (3.50 for four ounces). The flavor is stronger than other green teas I drank. One thing I notice about the flavor is that it doesn't have the usual grassy taste I get from some other green teas. So is it really a green tea in the sense the leaves aren't oxidized?

The website says gunpowder is made from older leaves. Also, I have read in one medical study that the older the leaves, usually the more catechins are in the leaf... but old leaves from the grading perspective are considered inferior, and are thus sold cheaper.

Space Cowboy · Accepted Answer

Gunpowder is a green tea. It is panfried to prevent oxidation. There are two categories Imperial from older leaf and Pinhead from younger leaf. The leaf is rolled into pellets. Another style is Hyson. The leaf is twisted. There is the older Hyson and Younger Hyson. Chinese green is very astringent. Grassy is a Japanese note.

Jim

Michael Plant · Answer

Space    08:   When it come to gunpowder tea, Jims "astringency" and "grassy" assessmentmight be right on the money; but, in general, it doesn't hold water:Perfectly non-astringent Chinese green teas and perfectly astringentJapanese green teas are not uncommon. It's a big wide world out there.Michael

Falky foo · Answer

when I think Japanese green tea I think grassy.

crymad · Answer

When I think Japanese green tea, I think about that time in Kyoto my wife and I stopped in this cute cafe along the banks of the Kamogawa river and were served the most delicious cups of cherry blossom bancha. What was the name of that waiter, honey? Oh, right -- Jean-Luke!

--crymad

Joseph Kubera · Answer

Grassy as a descriptor can be negative or positive, I think.  Good Japanese teacan be grassy in the best sense -- think lushly aromatic, fresh grassclippings...Joe

crymad · Answer

Yes, and I like grassiness. My little made-up story there was just riffing on Jim's cherry Bancha comments. The "Jean-Luke" line is from one of those General Foods International Coffee commercials, you see.

--crymad

magnulus · Answer

Sometimes Longjing reminds me of spinach or vegetable stock, so grassy taste I don't believe is unique to Japanese tea.

I haven't tried any sencha tea. I tried genmaicha a few times, and it's not bad- not really grassy, but it's not 100 percent tea either.

I really preffer a bit of astringency to grassy tastes.

WadeM · Answer

Lingjing tastes like sweet corn with rather nutty undertones, nothing grassyin my stock. Now my Japanese sencha OTOH is very grassy and twiggy.

IS Gunpowder real green tea?

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