Organic Gunpowder Green Tea (Zhu Cha)

Organic Gunpowder green tea is traditionally created by plucking high grade long tea leaves from the tea trees, by hand-rolling them into small tight pellet shapes (also like discoid flower). It is normal that there will be some floating in the liquor because of the processing craftsmanship, which will not affect tea taste. 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 yellowish green, even golden color liquor with high aroma, fresh and brisk taste, with hint of caramel aftertaste lingers.

	Cup Method		Chinese Gongfu Method
	Teacup: 8.8oz / 250ml		Gaiwan: 3.8oz / 110ml
	194℉ / 90℃		194℉ / 90℃
	1 Teaspoons / 2g Tea		5g Tea
	Brewing time: 3 - 5 mins		7 steeps: rinse, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 60s

TeaVivre’s Organic Gunpowder Green Tea, Organic Tianmu Maofeng and Organic Tianmu Yunwu are all from Hangzhou Bao Jia organic tea garden.

Surrounded by Kwun Tong reservoir (官塘水库), the Baojia organic tea garden where several of our organic teas come from is just located in somewhere in Tianmu Mountains in Lin'an, 800-1000 meters above sea level. At this elevation, superior geographical conditions enable good drainage and moderated sunshine, which are two crucial factors to tea growth.

The average annual rainfall here is about 1, 550 mm. Tian Mu mountains are often covered by cloud and mist, which blocks, to some degree, the direct sun light on tea leaves so that the air humidity and diffuse light can be enhanced. Besides, the soil is high in organic content and has an acidic PH that is suitable for growing tea trees. Therefore, the end teas from this garden are especially tender and pleasant-smelling.

This Organic Gunpowder Green Tea comes from Tianmu Mountain, located in Lin’an, in the northwest of Zhejiang Province, 84 km from Hangzhou. In Chinese, “Tianmu” means “Heavenly Eyes”. Tianmu Mountain got its poetic name from two pools, one on the east peak (elevation of 1480 m) and one on the west peak (elevation of 1506 m). The two pools look like eyes that are gazing at the sky.

With an elevation of 300 m to 1556 m, Tianmu Mountain is well known for its forest ecosystem and landscape which are typical of subtropical regions.

Qunti tea tree species, which is “mother” of Longjing 43, is also called “Lao Cha Peng” or “Tu Cha Ye” by the local tea farmers. It is the earliest species to produce Longjing Tea. “The eighteen imperil tea trees” that named by Qianlong Emperor is also this kind of tea tree species.

Qunti tea tree species are easily to be recognized as they are irregularly planted and spread out. The picking time of this kind of tea tree is later than other species. The tea made by this kind of tea tree species is characteristics in its strong fried-bean fragrant, as well as floral and fruity fragrant.

Our Organic Gunpowder Tea is made from the same tea tree species as Longjing, but with different picking time and processing ways which made them of different taste.

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, the Zhejiang 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!