Gunpowder Organic
The absolute classic and most consumed green tea in the world - organic Chinese green tea rolled into distinctive spherical pellets.
From China's renowned Zhejiang province, this organic green tea owes its name to its unique spherical leaf shape, created through traditional drum roasting. The dark green leaves unfurl to create a yellowish-brown infusion with strong, robust character featuring tart and slightly smoky notes that make it particularly popular as a food accompaniment.
Why You'll Love It
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World's Favourite: The most consumed green tea globally - a true classic
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Distinctive Character: Strong, robust flavor with tart and slightly smoky notes
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Food Pairing: Excellent accompaniment to meals due to its bold profile
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Proven Quality: 95-100% positive reviews praising quality and fresh flavor
Origins & Character
Zhejiang Province, China: Sourced from one of China's premier tea-growing regions, this organic green tea represents centuries of traditional craftsmanship and expertise.
Traditional Processing: The distinctive spherical "gunpowder" pellets are created through drum roasting, a time-honored technique that concentrates the tea's robust flavours and creates its characteristic spicy, slightly smoky profile.
Versatile Enjoyment: Perfect for morning and afternoon, this strong green tea delivers a yellowish-brown cup that's smooth and aromatic with no bitterness, and can be infused multiple times for excellent value.
Gunpowder Organic is the quintessential green tea experience - bold, traditional, and endlessly satisfying. A classic that has earned its place as the world's most beloved green tea.
Tea bag packaging material
There are generally 3 main types of tea bags: Pyramid shaped tea bags made from PLA – Polylactic Acid (t leaf T only uses this type), old style paper tea bags (usually rectangular and heat sealed), Pyramid shaped tea bags, made from nylon.
PLA tea bags – used by t leaf T – commercially compostable and 100% non-gmo
PLA teabags have been around since the mid 2000’s and they are 100% Plant based (non-petroleum based) and our NeoSoilon® Pyramid Tea bags are derived from sugar cane.
PLA (polylactic acid) is mainly extracted from corn or sugar cane and is then spun into thread which is used to weave the clear material that is used in t leaf T’s teabags.
PLA behaves like a plastic, even though it is plant based, this enables the sealing of the tea bags using ultrasonic vibrations that effectively welds the seams together at a specific temperature without the need of petro-chemical based plastics.
PLA tea bags are 100% INDUSTRIAL or COMMERCIALLY COMPOSTABLE -100% NON-GMO
At t leaf T we would love our PLA tea bags to be easily home compostable, but the technology is not there yet. The technology currently exists to achieve home compostability, however it has the tea bag material breaking down in in a matter of weeks so this material would not be a practical option for a long shelf-life like product like tea.
Old Style Paper Tea Bags
Paper tea bags have been around for almost 100 years. They Require heat sealing to close the tea bag because the paper fibres do not naturally adhere to each other. To be able to seal the tea bags, petro-based nano plastics are blended into the tea bag material by the material manufacturers, about 2 % of the teabag, so that when heat and pressure are applied it melts the plastic and the teabag can be sealed.
So, most paper tea bags contain approximately 98% paper fibre, that will break down in home composting, BUT 2% of the teabag is petro-based nano plastics that are not compostable or biodegradable. Not an option for us here at t leaf T.
Nylon Pyramid Shaped Tea Bags
The nylon tea bag material has been around since around 1996 as the PLA technology did not exist at the time. The pyramid tea bags look nice, but the material is entirely a petro-based plastic. The cost of Nylon is substantially cheaper than PLA so low cost driven produces will mostly opt for nylon because of the price.
Nylon is not compostable, or biodegradable so will be around for hundreds of years. Again, not an option for us at t leaf T!
In summary
No teabag solution is perfect but at t leaf T we believe that the PLA material we are using is the most sustainable solution currently for, convenience based, teabags. Every tea we sell is also available in loose leaf and is a better environmentally friendly and sustainable option.
