Whether you're surviving the winter months with a steaming mug or throwing ice into your glass in the summer, makes for the perfect year-round drink. Green tea has become one of the most common and popular types due to its lighter taste and lower caffeine content. And while green tea is indeed its own flavor, it comes in many varieties that can be complicated to keep straight at times.
Gunpowder tea is one of those variants. That's right, gunpowder tea is not a totally separate entity, but a type of green tea known for its particular shape — the leaves are rolled into tiny balls — which make it look similar to gunpowder pellets, hence the name. Fear not, it does not taste anything like gunpowder and is totally safe to drink, but its smoky and nutty flavor is very different from that of other green teas.
But who said different was a bad thing? Gunpowder tea has many amazing properties that make it a stand out among other green teas, and it just might become your new obsession. What is gunpowder green tea? Gunpowder tea is a variety of green tea that has origins as far back as 7th century China and remains popular today. This style of green tea is rolled up tightly into balls after it's been steamed and dried, which gives it a dark and wilted appearance that resembles gunpowder pellets.
The gunpowder reference also alludes to the flavor of the leaves, which is much more punchy and vegetal — a quality that is milder in other green teas. Gunpowder tea also has a higher caff.
