Legend has it that the name “Gunpowder” came from a young English clerk who thought the tiny rolled green balls looked like gunpowder. The leaves are specially selected for quality, size and style and are then rolled into tight nuggets. Gunpowder tea keeps a lot longer than other green teas and is favored because of this characteristic. Gunpowder tea comes from the province of Zhejiang in China and from Taiwan. Generally the better gunpowder’s come from Taiwan. When the tea is made, the tiny pellets jingle and tinkle in the bowl or cup. Boiling water causes them to open up like flowers and sink slowly to the bottom in graceful patterns, which add a dimension of visual pleasure to tea drinking. This gunpowder produces a reasonably strong dark-green brew with a memorable fragrance, a slightly bitter but not unpleasant flavor and a long-lasting finish. Gunpowder is denser than other teas so one or two teaspoons for a teapot is all that is required.