Temple Of Heaven

A review of Special Gunpowder China Green Tea by Temple of Heaven

Company: Temple of Heaven
Tea Name: Special Gunpowder China Green Tea
Tea Type/Varietal: Green
Region: Shanghai China
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: light yellow-green
Leaf Characteristics: Tea leaves are tightly rolled pellets and smelling of smoke…roasted scent and when brewed leaves a fuller and smelling of spinach. Actually when brewed they do look like a plate of spinach. The Chinese call these small pellets “Pearl Tea”.

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 190 Fahrenheit
Time: 2 minutes

This tea I purchased during my visit to the Living Earth market in Worcester, MA. It was very inexpensive and a gem in a little box. When I opened the box I thought I would find powder tea; I was pleasantly surprised to see it was leaves medium-finely crunched.

I took 1 teaspoon of the leaves and put this in my cup and add the boiled water into my cup. I leave it to steep for several minutes; after sometime, I take the tea and spoon out the leaves; they are somewhat fuller and look like spinach.

The teas’ aroma is that of green veggies and smells mildly astringent; tea’s color is light green with a yellow base and with longer steeps the tea is a golden brown. Tea tastes mild and smooth with a nutty flavor. It only gets bitter when tea leaves are left for longer in the cup as I tend to do; from being lazy in having to remove the tea leaves.

I had read and heard so much of gunpowder tea that it was a treat to finally see it in a store and the pricing was right as well; I did wonder why it was so inexpensive however. It is a good cup of refreshing green tea and I am happy to finally have sampled and purchase it.

I am fortunate this year since I have been able to experience finer teas than before.

What can I say? A solid gunpowder offering. Stands to resteep over and over, you can milk this for 3 pots if you’re frugal. Not unforgiving, it can tolerate being oversteeped or taking too much heat, but naturally becomes a lot grassier. Otherwise it is somewhat bold, and not terribly complex, but as advertised goes well with meals. I’d be interested to try it as an iced tea.

Inexpensive, great little loose leaf tea. I’m surprised how much tea you can buy for only one dollar.
Note to self: There is an expiration date at the bottom of the tea box.

12/6/12 – This tea is still really good. Not my daily drinker. It reminds me of licking a copper penny for some reason. I’m fine with this.

11/5/13 – I finished up this tea today. This tea stayed fresh for a year. This one will be purchased again since it is easy and find, and tasty. Goodbye copper penny tasting tea, bye-bye for now.

Not so special, but it does make a nice basc daily green tea. Its lower in cost than other gunpowder green teas with a bit of a smokey flavor, I have used it a few times as an iced tea, not bad. Not my favorite but its good for a basic green. 

I never drink green tea on its own. I always add mint and sugar and make Moroccan tea. It’s delicious and can be served moments after you combine everything.

Great little everyday tea, and a regular to my day. I only add a pinch to a cup of boiling water and watch the leaves unfurl in the bottom. Good flavour but not to strong.

We are setting records for heat, so I have been mixing some iced tea into my day. This has become a favorite. Brew a pot of this including a large sprig of mint, combine in a quart mason jar with ice, a twist of lime, and a little sweetener as desired and my goodness, you have a refreshing and delicious beverage. Goes well with Rat Lunch too, hmm what time is it? I am getting hungry!

Ok friends of the 80’s, like, I had this bummer of a day…totally.
But I had a few minutes between meetings and drove by yet another
Asian Market I have yet to try and Bam! For 99 cents I get 4 ounces of solid
gunpowder green. A dash in my press, steeped a cup or so and man,
the day just got a lot better. As others have noted, this is a bit smokey, a little cloudy, and not the most beautiful color of green you will find, but the taste is rich and full. This is an in your face green that could handle any type of food or seasoning. I am thinking enchiladas…oops sorry, back to the tea. At this price, I will never have to drink bagged green again!

This tea is available where I do my regular food shopping so I occasionally pick it up. As has been remarked upon by other tasters it is an usually strong tea flavorwise so I usually cut the quantity of leaves down by 1/3 or even 1/2. It has a spinachy taste, more the dark green vegetal taste than the bright springy green. It makes a swampy green liquor, reminds one of something Yoda might drink on a cold Dagoba night. It leaves a lot of sediment in the cup, but it’s hulky-green color often hides this sediment until the last sips remain. The flavor changes little when it cools or is cold, so it is a good and thrifty all purpose tea. It is easily made, tolerates wide range of temp. The leaves are broad enough to prepare without filters or mesh or any of those tools. It takes lemon very well, and if you make simple syrups it takes a ginger syrup very well.

This is my mainstay tea. I make a thermos of it every day. Sometimes come home at lunch and do a second steep on the leaves with good results (slightly cooler water on second steep – around 170).
Robust, nice astringency. Smokiness without being overpowering.

This is another tea-in-the-work-kitchen experiment. At least it lives up to expectation. A good solid gunpowder! Slightly smoky. I think I brewed it a little on the hot side, I generally like my greens done with water that’s not quite so hot, but being fussy about water temperature at work is fussier than I usually feel like dealing with. It survived the hot-hot water so hoorah!

This is nice so long as you don’t use too much – 1/2 a teaspoon per cup is plenty – the quantity of leaf seems to be more of an issue than the steeping time; I let this go for up to about 20 minutes as I couldn’t finish it all in one go and it was still pleasant, not astringent. Nice smoky smell but not overpowering like a Lapsang Souchong. I added some fresh mint to the teapot too for a Moroccan-y experience.

Brewed strong on purpose; drinking medicinally to chase off a bad case of cruds. Like drinking a healthy serving of vegetables.

I’m amazed at the longevity of this tea—-I’ve had my box for longer than I can recall, and it brews up just fine. Usually gets dragged out for antioxidant purposes when I suspect somebody’s exposed me to a cold or flu bug. In the summer, I brew with home-grown spearmint and ice it down.

Haven’t had this in awhile, so this is off of memory.

Very strong for a green tea, slightly earthy. Doesn’t seem to be very sensitive to water temperature; I’ve had it with water off the boil and didn’t notice the sourness you would find when you overheat most greens. It’s a great everyday tea: cheap, ubiquitous, and forgiving.

My @work tea at the monent….

Found this by total fluke at the grocery store near I work. Yummy!

A tea with a lot of sediment, needs a good strain. Nice smokey aftertaste