Gunpowder Tea - Varieties

Varieties

When sold as a variety of tea, gunpowder tea has several varieties:

• Pingshui gunpowder (平水珠茶): The original and most common variety of gunpowder tea with larger pearls, better color, and a more aromatic infusion, which is commonly sold as Temple of Heaven Gunpowder or Pinhead Gunpowder, the former, a common brand of this tea variety.
• Formosa gunpowder: A gunpowder style tea grown in Taiwan near Keelung, it is claimed to have its own characteristic aroma, different from that of Zhejiang Province gunpowder grown in mainland China. Formosa gunpowder teas are typically fresh or roasted oolongs.
• Ceylon gunpowder: A gunpowder variant grown in Sri Lanka, usually at altitudes exceeding 1,800 metres (6,000 ft), see Green Ceylon teas.

Several types of green teas are commonly rolled into "gunpowder" form, including Chunmee, Tieguanyin, Huang Guanyin, and Dong Ding, as well as many other oolong and higher-end jasmine teas.