“Fleur de printemps”: this is the name Mariage Frères gives to this green tea from Hunan, which owes its name to its young, fine and tender leaves, of a bright, luminous green. Hyson Gunpowder is a plain green tea from China, and the house’s file classifies it among its Jardins Premiers.

The term gunpowder denotes, in Chinese tradition, a leaf rolled into small, tightly packed pearls, recalling the gunpowder of the English merchants of old; the word hyson, for its part, historically described a green tea of fine quality, picked in spring. The rolled leaf unfurls slowly in hot water and releases a dense infusion. A plain tea, it contains no additives.

The infusion is a yellow-green colour and gives off a fresh, pronounced fragrance; the taste, according to the house, is velvety. There is a full, lively note, more assertive than in a delicate green tea, with a frank length and a slight roastiness typical of Chinese greens processed in a wok. This is a green tea of character, which holds its own alongside a meal.

It is drunk during the day, plain, and forms the traditional base of the mint tea of the Maghreb: a few sprigs of fresh mint and a little sugar, and this flavour is recovered. It accompanies a lunch, a tagine, spicy cuisine, or is drunk iced in summer. The pearls withstand several infusions.

Allow 3 g per 200 ml of water at 90°C and three minutes of infusion, according to the house’s instructions. Hyson Gunpowder is weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, and keeps in an airtight container, cool and away from light.