100g Royal Ceylon Gunpowder Green Tea
A green tea with surprising body and a captivating taste that has an intriguing hint of oakiness.
Luxury Ingredients: Green tea
Small Batch Blended and Packed in: Canada
Tea(s) From: Sri Lanka
Region(s): Dimbula
Antioxidant Level: Super High
Caffeine Content: Low
Gunpowder tea is produced like green tea but after the steaming process the tea is tightly rolled into what appears to be pellets. When boiling water is poured over the leaves they quickly expand and in some cases can almost fill the cup. Royal Gunpowder is an especially good green tea for the following reasons:
- The base tea comes from some of the best estates in Sri Lanka
- The tightness of the rolled pellets gives excellent flavour when made into tea.
- The region where the tea is grown - Dimbula - is a high grown area producing full-bodied flavory tea. In Dimbula the peak quality time is during February when northwest monsoons create dry weather conditions in Dimbula.
Royal Gunpowder tea is manufactured in very limited quantities due to the time and diligence required to manufacture this high quality tea. It is very difficult to achieve such a tight roll of leaves; but this process allows this particular type of tea to able to be stored for a long time without any deterioration in quality.
Tea was planted in Sri Lanka by the British in the 1860's after coffee rust wiped out the then primary agricultural coffee crop. At that time the British East Indies Company had a near monopoly on tea, with most of Britain's needs coming from China. Relations between China and Britain were quite rocky during this period (on account of the opium trade) and tea in Sri Lanka looked like a great way to diversify supply risk by 'the company'. This gunpowder tea is made in the Chinese tradition but the benefits are superior quality tea.
