Gunpowder Green

By some miracle, it's not snowing or icing outside this weekend. It's just cold. Really cold, like wind chill advisory cold. So, we're sampling a hot beverage from someplace much warmer than here today.

It seems people are a little surprised if not slightly taken aback when I mention gunpowder. What a strange name for tea. It is so named because the loose leaf form of this tea is rolled into little balls that reminded early British traders of gunpowder. While I usually associate this tea with China, Numi tea lists it for Taiwan. According to their blurb about this tea, it appeared in Taiwan in the 19th century, and was embraced for its smoky flavor and full-bodied smooth taste. Given the smoky flavor of Iron Goddess from Taiwan, I can believe that they like smoked teas.

When I opened the package, I was greeted with the bright, grassy smell of green tea. I found it to be very reminiscent of matcha. When I brewed up a cup, the smoky scent came out of this tea. The smoky scent and flavor are stronger than I have found in loose leaf tea, and it is very pleasant. This reinforces my idea that the loose leaf tea I was getting at the grocery store was probably quite old, and poorly stored. This is a very nice variation on green tea.

Comments

  1. We got some snow to make up for your lack of it. No need to thank me.

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    Replies
    1. Our forecast for the end of the week involves snow, freezing rain, regular rain, flooding, ice jams on the rivers, and temperatures heading back below freezing. Maybe mother nature needs a nice calming cup of tea.

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