Pinhead gunpowder
The tightest and smallest grade of gunpowder green, rolled into pellets a few millimetres across. The tight rolling protects the leaf from air, which is why gunpowder keeps far better than other green teas and became the standard export and North African tea.
Character
Sharp, smoky and assertive — made to survive shipping and to stand up to mint and sugar rather than to be sipped delicately.
- Flavour
- Smoky, Roasted, Mineral
- Aroma
- Toasted
- Mouthfeel
- Medium, Drying, Astringent
- Complexity
- Straightforward
- Notes
- smoke, toasted grain, mineral
- Aftertaste
- Sharp and drying.
Moderate intensity: noticeable weight or grip, but neither dominates the cup.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- Spring
- Processing
- Kill-green (fixation) → Rolling and shaping → Drying
History
The tightest gunpowder grade, and the one that dominated the nineteenth-century clipper trade because it packed densely and resisted moisture. Its role in Moroccan mint tea descends directly from that export route rather than from Moroccan production.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 80–90 °C · 1 authored infusion
Moroccan mint tea preparation
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
Common mistakes
- Using boiling water and a long steep — gunpowder becomes genuinely harsh faster than most greens.
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Gunpowder green tea
Grades of the same rolled export green tea. Pinhead is the tightest and smallest, and tightness of roll is the main quality signal in the style.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Vietnamese green tea
Shares 5 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: mineral, astringent, drying, medium and toasted.
- English Breakfast
Shares 4 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: roasted, drying, astringent and toasted.
- Kang Zhuan
Shares 4 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: smoky, astringent, drying and toasted.
- Xinyang Mao Jian
Shares 4 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: mineral, medium, drying and astringent.
- Ban Tian Yao
Shares 3 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: roasted, mineral and medium.
- Bulang sheng pu-erh
Shares 3 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: mineral, smoky and astringent.
- Ceylon black tea
Shares 3 descriptors with Pinhead gunpowder: roasted, medium and drying.