ZG30: Special Grade Temple of Heaven Gunpowder Green

I like gunpowder tea but I’m not sure what the difference is between the different grades and brands, this is a finer tea than the standard gunpowder according to Upton, so here goes nothing.

Steeping method: infuser mug, 1 heaping teaspoon of tea pellets…

Tea liquor is an olive green with a bit of brothy thickness. The steeped leaves smell mostly vegetal, like boiled greens. This is definitely on the full bodied and robust spectrum of greens. It has a smooth mouthfeel, very vegetal with notes of green olive, a slight bit of pungency in the finish. There isn’t a lot of smoke in this gunpowder which is too bad, I like mine to be a bit smoky. Mild astringency. This wasn’t bad but I don’t think I’ll need to buy anymore beyond this sample.

I forgot all about this sample. It’s one of the half-dozen Claire sent me six months ago when I was first learning about tea. It hardly seems like six months could have passed since then, but here we are.

The first time I tried this, I was very discouraged by how temperamental I thought it was. Now I’m a little more careful about brewing temperatures, and I never ever ever let a green tea get cold if I can help it. This cup brewed up nice and brothy with an olive-amber color and sweet, slightly vegetal aroma.

First steep:
The sip is dainty and sweet, with mild vegetal flavor and a light grainy note. My sinuses are giving me hell this morning so I don’t completely trust my nose, but sinus issues for me usually mean that unpleasant tastes and smells are enhanced. I get none of that from this tea. A tiny bit of smoke as it cools and a wee bit of bitterness on the last sip.

Second steep: More of the same. Great cup!

I like this one, but I’m typically a black tea lover and I think I like this tea because it’s strong and doesn’t taste like anything I’d put into a soup.

This would be a good base for blends, it would stand up against what was added to it nicely and give a noticeable straight tea flavor.

Also this is the first rolled tea I’ve tried and it’s so cute I can’t stand it.

When it comes to green tea, I’m pretty much a meat and potatoes guy. Other than first-flush senchas, I don’t really search out anything too refined. I’m satisfied with a good basic tea on those occasions when I want something with less caffeine; still I favor robust greens, and I remember drinking this gunpowder and liking it.

Well, it’s even better than I remember it and quite a bargain (a little leaf goes a long way). I love the wood-fire smokiness and the thick broth. It really is the lapsang suchong of green teas. A perfect winter green.

I’ve never had straight gunpowder tea before-always mixed in a Moroccan Mint blend. Since I bought the mint and the tea separately this time, thought I would try the tea straight.

The dry leaves unfurl very nicely (although I did not watch). The liquor is a golden yellow. The brewed aroma is slightly vegetal and slightly floral. The flavor is pretty similar. The floral taste is not that strong, but strong enough (meaning too strong). Reminds me a bit of a green oolong-which I don’t really care for. Straight, this tea is not for me. Fortunately, I have a giant bag of spearmint to blend with it and I would not hesitate to buy this tea again as long as I was blending it.

I remember my obsession with tea beginning back in winter of 2008. I came down with a severe case of strep throat and it literally felt like I was swallowing razor blades, and I was just miserably sick. Besides getting antibiotics, I also got some lozenges and a pack of Tetley green tea to help soothe the pain. At that time, I was completely ignorant of how to properly brew tea, let alone green tea, so what I did was I boiled a pot of water and just dumped the tea bags in there for it to brew. After that I added heaps of honey because I just could not appreciate plain tea back then. The tea, although sweetened to the point that it barely seemed like green tea at all, turned out to be a life saver and I could forget the pain during the short moment I was drinking it.
This green tea from Upton kind of brought back that memory, and along with it the fondness I once had for green tea. It has very little if any astringency or grassy taste and is just really smooth from start to finish. The name of this tea “Temple of Heaven” is very fitting, since I feel like it cleanses my soul while it rests in eternal bliss.

Awesome green tea – nice and smokey, just like the name, haha! It’s very full-bodied; I would recommend this to anyone who wants to forage into green teas (like me).

This brews up a nice yellowish color. It is an excellent green tea with a great aftertaste. It reminds me of some Japanese greens. I am a sucker for different tea leaf shapes and this is a very unique one. They look like, well gunpowder. It even shimmers.

I guess I reviewed this 7 years ago and forgot, anyways new sample, in addition to the old review notes, I’m getting some oolong esque roasty notes that remind me of hot rocks/hot spring mineral water.
old review:
“Doesn’t taste too vegetal or grassy to me, which is a good thing. Tastes smooth and smokey. I didn’t bother sweetening it; it is good just as it is. The people I shared it with enjoyed it as well, including people that “don’t usually like green tea.””

I had originally purchased this gunpowder to be used as a base for Moroccan mint tea, as I had access to some wonderful fresh mint growing on the farm that I’m currently employed at. For this the gunpowder performed beautifully, lacking the bitterness I’ve associated lower quality teas of this variety that I’ve had in the past but still presenting that bold and vegetal flavor that I was looking for as my base.

I’ve decided to rate this based on my current drinkings, just as is now that the mint has died back quite a bit and I’m left with 50 grams or so.

Brewing notes: I’ve fallen into a habit, modeled by my usual intake of rolled oolongs, of using a gaiwan packing a little more that I would for an infuser. I put about a tsp and a half in my little 125ml gaiwan and steeped in short increasing durations usually out to 5 or 6 steeps.

Drinking notes: My enthusiasm for this tea come from my notes above about the fullness of it’s flavor and it’s lack of bitterness, but also come from it’s longevity. Every time I’ve drank this tea, brewing it gaiwan style, I’ve gotten consistent flavor and body up to the 5th brew at least. My usual experience with brewing greens in this manner only yields consistency in strength up to the 3rd or 4th steep. That being said, this quality also leads to what detracts from this tea. This is not a tea that will surprise you with each subsequent brew, it has a very mildly astringency with a full bodied vegetal brew and slight dark honey ( I’m thinking buckwheat honey) hints in the aftertaste, which stays very consistent until spent.

Overall, I’m very pleased by my purchase, finding such a pleasing experience with gunpowder a tea that I’ve had mixed feelings about for quite a while. This isn’t a tea that will be novel and exciting thou, but that’s not to say I always look for that in my daily drinkings.