Special Gunpowder Green

My kinda ghetto fall back green. A bit weak, a bit bitter, but still tasty for a cup over orgo. Overall what I’d expect from 500g of tea for $3.

One of the best green teas in it’s PRICE RANGE.

Price:
I bought this from an Middle Eastern grocery store (Finland) at 1€/100g, it is hard to find any cheaper tea.

Taste:
Taking into account it’s price, this tea has a surprisingly rich taste. Usually tea this cheap have hardly any taste or they just come out plain bitter. This one has a clear smokey aroma and a dusky taste.

Brewing:
In 70°-75°C water for 2:00 minutes. I add 15 seconds for every re-brew. Unfortunately, this tea can handle only two proper brews, the third one will have not much of the taste left (only the bitterness). This gunpowder gets bitter easier than most of the gun powders, so don’t exceed the brewing time.

Texture:
It seems quite tightly rolled, but it’s dustier than a typical gunpowder. The dust is clearly visible at the bottom of a tea cup after drinking. The dusty texture is probably one of the reasons this gunpowder gets bitter so easily.

Summary:
A good everyday tea for someone who drinks a lot of green tea. I drink this as my morning tea, since I usually don’t have time to do so many brews in the morning, so the tea doesn’t get wasted. I have this always on my tea shelf for everyday use.

Tip: This is also a good choice for making Marrakech Mint tea (which I like drinking a lot in summer when there is fresh green mint available in Finland), since the gunpowder used for that is supposed to get easily bitter to balance the ridiculous amount of sugar. I’d say that any delicate gunpowder would get a bit wasted for Marrakech Mint, since the mint and the sugar easily overrides the delicate taste in the tea.