Gunpowder
Gunpowder (zhu cha, pearl tea) is Chinese green tea rolled into tight pellets that unfurl as they steep. The rolling protects the leaf, so gunpowder keeps and travels better than open-leaf greens, which is exactly why it became the backbone of Moroccan mint tea. On its own it is robust, slightly smoky, and bracing rather than delicate.
Tight, hard, uniformly rolled pellets with a slight sheen; the smaller and more tightly rolled, the higher the grade, with the finest sometimes called pinhead gunpowder. Dull, loose, or crumbly pellets are low grade or stale. The cup should be robust and clean, and heavy smokiness can mask cheap leaf, so a balanced version shows green character under the strength. Most gunpowder comes from Zhejiang.
Produced mainly in Zhejiang province and elsewhere in China, gunpowder is a shaping style rather than a single cultivar or terroir. Its durability made it a major export tea, and it is the standard base for Maghrebi mint tea across North Africa, where it is brewed strong with spearmint and sugar. Quality ranges from coarse export grade to carefully rolled spring leaf.
Western: 80-85°C, 3 g per 200 ml, 2-3 minutes; the pellets need a moment to open. Gongfu: 4 g per 100 ml, 80°C, 20-30 seconds ascending, 4-5 infusions. Moroccan style: boil with fresh spearmint and sugar, traditionally poured from a height to aerate.
Everyday export-grade gunpowder is very cheap, €5-15 (about $5-16) per 100 g. Carefully rolled spring grades reach €15-30 (about $16-32) per 100 g.
Prices reviewed June 2026
Longjing (Dragon Well)
The benchmark Chinese green, open-leaf and delicate, the opposite shaping philosophy to gunpowder's tight pellets.
Chun Mee
Another everyday Chinese export green, curled rather than pelletized, useful for placing gunpowder in its market.
Genmaicha
A robust, forgiving everyday green from a different tradition; both reward a casual hand.
The English name comes from the pellets' resemblance to old grain gunpowder, while the Chinese name zhu cha means pearl tea. The tight rolling was originally a practical way to preserve and ship tea over long distances, which is how it became the dominant green tea of the North African market.