Gunpowder Green Tea (Zhu Cha)

Gunpowder green tea is traditionally created by plucking high grade tea leaves from the tea trees, then processed by withering and steaming the leaves before hand-rolling them into small pellet shapes, then drying.  The whole leaf is used in processing, so this tea when brewed allows the pellets to unfurl and dance in the hot water to produce a beautiful clear pale yellow liquor with a lovely green tea aroma with nuances of smoke and flowers.

Brief Health Info

Rolling the tea into balls helps to preserve the freshness of the leaves.  Small, tightly rolled pellets are the mark of a higher quality Gunpowder green tea, while larger loosely rolled pellets are of lower quality.  Our Gunpowder green tea here at Teavivre is of the highest quality made from premium grown tea leaves and processed with care.

Like all green teas, Gunpowder green tea holds many various health benefits, making it one of the healthiest beverages in the world!  One cup of Teavivre's Gunpowder green tea contains up to 200mg of catechins, which are anti-oxidants giving the green tea the ability to help the body protect itself from free radicals and other toxins. 

Several scientific studies have shown that the catechins in teas can act as so-called “hypolipidemics” which are said to lower the amount of “bad” cholesterol in the body (called LDL) and increases the amount of “good” (HDL) cholesterol in the body.  “Drinking green tea everyday makes you thin” is a quote from an ancient Chinese medical text called Bencao Shiyi, and many modern day studies have backed up this claim.

For more information on the health benefits of Green teas, take a look at our article on Grenn Tea Health benefit.

How to Properly Brew Gunpowder Green Tea

Use 1-2 teaspoons of Teavivre Gunpowder Green Tea per 8 ounces of hot water.  Because all green teas have little to no oxidization, and are very delicate, the tea should only be brewed in clean mineral-free spring water or purified water which should be heated to a point under the boiling point.  Ideally the brewing temperature of your water should be around tea should be 203 ºF (95 ºC). Using too hot of water will scorch the leaves and create a bitter, undrinkable brew.  The tea leaves should be steeped for approximately 1-2 minutes for the first and second brewing.  Gunpowder green tea leaves can be re-brewed many times, and the resulting liquid will contain different characteristics and nuances with each subsequent brewing. After the first 2 brewing, extend your brewing time by about a minute for each time you brew the leaves.  As the Gunpowder tea expands in the water, you can watch the beautiful full and stretched tea leaves unfurl fully and expand in the water as your tea brews, making the brewing of Gunpowder green tea an aesthetic beauty as well.

Where Teavivre's Gunpowder Green Tea is produced

Teavivre's Gunpowder green tea is from Fuding, Fujian.  This area has a perfect environment to grow premium teas, because it has an abundant rainfall, with many cool misty days in spring, and temperatures that are neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter.  The mountains around the tea plantations are more than 80% forested, ensuring the soil has a high natural fertility and plenty of natural organic content so that there is no need for artificial fertilizers.

About the Tea Farmer

Mr. Lin Xingbiao has been a professional tea farmer for thirty years. Born in a traditional tea family, he was deeply influenced by his family and built his own tea factory in 1966. With the gradual growth of his factory, he is trying to seek the common development between enterprise and tea farmers.

He thinks that the most challengeable factor is the weather. If tea leaves suffered from bad weather, the yield would be reduced and the quality would not reach the standard. If tea leaves suffered from cold weather, straws would be used to cover them and protect them from being frosted. This is what Mr. Lin gets from his experience over the years.

Therefore, the first priority is to strictly control product quality and ensure its reputation. Mr. Lin, together with his tea factory, will continue to provide high-quality tea leaves and regularly increase the number of tea factory. He tries to provide the healthy and natural tea beverage for the public.

History

Gunpowder green tea has been popular in China since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It is one of China’s earliest export goods.  In the Western world, green tea is just now taking on the popularity that it has in Asian countries, with more people in North America learning about varieties and the manufacturing process of green teas.

Gunpowder green tea originated in Pingshui Town, Shaoxing City, in the Zhejiang Province of China. However, over the years the production of Gunpowder green tea has expanded to the Fujian Province, the Guangdong Province, the Anhui Province and the Hunan Province of China, where very high quality Gunpowder green tea can be grown and produced.

At the time of Emperor Kang Xi (1661-1722 AD) of the Qing Dynasty, it became an Imperial Tribute tea.  According to historical records, the export of Gunpowder tea reached a peak between 1843 and 1894, but is regaining popularity in modern times with the introduction of the digital age and the occurrence of the internet.

At Teavivre, we hold our standards of production to those which have been used for thousands of years to bring you the best Gunpowder green tea available!