Detailed Product Description

Gunpowder tea is a form of green produced in of in which each leaf has been rolled into a small round pellet. It is believed to take its English name from the fact that the tea resembles pellets used for . This rolling method of shaping tea is most often applied either to dried (the most commonly encountered variety outside China) or .

Gunpowder tea production dates back to the (618907) but it was first introduced to in the 1800s. Although the individual leaves were formerly rolled by hand, today most gunpowder tea is rolled by machines (though the highest grades are still rolled by hand). Rolling tea leaves into gunpowder tea renders the leaves less susceptible to physical damage and allows them to retain more of their flavor and aroma. In addition, it allows certain types of oolong teas to be aged for decades if they are cared for by being occasionally roasted.

When buying gunpowder tea it is important to look for shiny pellets, which indicate that the tea is relatively fresh.