Gunpowder Green Tea (Lu Cha)

Gunpowder Green Tea (Lu Cha)

Camellia sinensis

This green tea is full-bodied with occasional smoky notes and a lingering citrus flavor. Contains caffeine.

This delicious Chinese green tea is centuries old, and the appearance of the rolled leaves greatly resemble gunpowder pellets. The green tea leaves are rolled this way to protect the quality of the tea leaves and preserve freshness.  This green tea delivers a full-bodied cup with occasional smoky notes and a lingering citrus flavor. For a special treat, try mixing with fresh mint leaves or a squeezed lemon, or in the warm weather, try gunpowder green tea on ice!

Green tea has cooling in energy, allowing it to clear energetic heat and mildly dry dampness.  Green tea is much colder than Oolong and this comes through in the flavor; where Oolong has a mild sweetening, woody flavor, Green tea has a more popping bitterness. Both teas, however, are useful for stomach disorders and removing dampness in the form of grease and fat from the body.

Green Machine

Green tea is great, but we all enjoy something new, especially when we can make our taste buds POP. While this simple recipe is similar to the popular "hot toddy" home remedy, its meant to be very refreshing. Brew up your Green tea at normal strength–if you let it sit too long, the bitterness will overpower the other flavors we are going to add. For each cup of Green tea you make, add the following:

• 1 tsp honey (Feng Mi)
• ½ tsp lemon juice (or squeeze a fresh slice of lemon)

While everyone´s tastes will differ, it is important to balance the amounts of honey and lemon in such a way that they combine with the tea and create a balanced taste. Adjust to your taste and play with it a bit. This can be a nice refreshing drink, especially as it cools. The green tea is cold; the lemon has a cool and sour property that boasts bountiful levels of health assets. The warm honey balances the cold items out from both an energetic as well as a culinary perspective.

This concoction doesn´t quite taste the same with other teas. I´ve tried it with Pu Erh, Oolong, White tea, as well as the less appealing store-bought teas, but none of them taste just right...Loose-leaf Lu Cha is the way to go here.

Contains Caffeine.

Research

Green Tea and Bone Metabolism

Brewing Instructions

Begin with cold water.  Preheat tea pot. Use approximately 3 grams of tea leaves for 6 oz. water.  Use .5 oz. tea leaves per quart.  For tea, steep 4 minutes.

***Brew herbal teas as black teas, with water to rolling boil.  POUR OVER tea or herbal. DO NOT boil botanicals in water when making tea.

Use discretion and taste to produce a brew-strength equal to 3 grams of tea per 6 oz. water.