On 2006-01-22 15:06:55 -0800, "
said:

S. Chancellor wrote:
Is bi luo chun considered a type of gunpowder tea? If not, what is it?

-S.

Bi Luo Chun (or Piluochun) is a green tea, it is a different tea to
Gunpowder, for sure. I have seen types that are curled gently rather
than compressed into pellets, which is because guess that for quality
tea it would be impossible to make pellets using just the bud and first
leaf. The quality of Bi Luo Chun (originally grown in Dong Ting,
Jiangsu?) is a lot higher than Gunpowder (originally grown in Anhui?)
in general.

From what I gather (correct me if I am wrong) there are so many subtle
differences in Chinese teas that to categorise something as part of
something else is rather difficult.


I thought that gunpowder only referred to the way the tea is processed?
As far as I can tell the bi luo chun and this gunpowder looks the
same? Speaking of which,
what is Extra Gunpowder and Special Gunpowder and what is it compared
to just regular ol' gunpowder? Are either of those the same as Pinhead
gunpowder?

-S.