Davidson's Organics, Gunpowder Green, Loose Leaf Tea, 16-Ounce Bag(Packaging May Vary)

What can I say, I drink coffee, tea, water, and carbonated water only. Occasionally, throw in some Kombucha. I drink coffee 75% of the time. Green coffee adds a great Zen and has great health benefits. Excellent price for size and quality.

This is a review of the organic Gunpowder Green variety. The tea is great. The leaves are rolled in attractive balls that release as water hits them (explaining the gunpowder name). I enjoy this either hot (steeped for about a minute with 180 degree water), where I frequently have enough flavor left for a second steeping, or as a cold brew tea. You can find lots of recipes online, but this makes an almost perfect replica of the Itoen brand iced bottled teas. Very refreshing and crisp on a hot summer day!

The combination of the jasmine tea with the green and oolong with Its light subtle floral flavor and bolder flavor of the oolong make a very refreshing homemade ice tea

Decent tea. Arrived fresh but lacked potency. 4 stars because it is the best price around and it is organic apparently. The aroma is quite strong but the taste lacks.

Davidson's Sencha tea is the tea I use to make Jun Tea, a fermented tea that's healthy, bubbly, and delicious. The recipe includes Sencha green tea and honey. I'm very satisfied with Davidson's Sencha tea.

Very rare and quality tea (unlike most teas of this brand). The main trick is not over-steep it. Use water under boiling (as for oolong tea) and brew 2-3 minutes - this will give you a very nice light evening tea with flowery aroma and mild taste. Later I do second brew for much longer (~10 minutes) and it makes a good darker morning tea with a "kick". The main problem with this tea is that if brewed for long, it will make it bitter, so the bad reviews. Currently it is no longer available, but I hope that Davidson's will be carrying yellow teas in the future.

I've been drinking kukicha for over ten years and love it - it's the only tea I will drink. Kukicha is THE reason I started to drink tea. If you're looking for traditional GREEN Japanese kukicha - this is NOT the tea that you want. It doesn't even taste like green kukicha. I made the mistake of thinking the pictured example was just a bad photo. I had been under the impression that kukicha was always green by definition, but apparently there are some varieties ",,,,available as a green tea or in more oxidized processing." I'm sure this tea is very good IF you like black, caffeinated teas, which I do not. **********UPDATED June 20, 2013 ************ In response to L. Claire's comments on this review : " Posted on Jan 14, 2013 1:54:42 PM PST Last edited by the author on Jan 14, 2013 2:01:47 PM PST L. Claire says: Hey Friend - I don't mean to quibble with you, but I have to say that it is rather unfair of you to give this tea 1-star because it's not what you expected. The idea of a review is report (honestly) on your impression of the product. And yes, there are a multitude of green tea varieties. The pictures of this product clearly show a brown paper bag and a collection of brown sticks and twigs...my eyesight isn't the best, but it looks pretty clear to me. You said that you were "sure this tea is very good, IF you like black, caffeinated teas, which I do not." Please understand that roasted Kukicha tea is NEITHER a Black NOR is it a (strongly) caffeinated tea -- in fact, it is typically a brown-roasted, low caffeine tea prized because of its alkalyzing and healing effect on the body. Now, if you want to pay $90 a pound for a "green kukicha" you can plunk your $$ where your mouth is... it actually has "green" in the title! Green Kukicha Supreme Green Tea -- The Fragrant Leaf, Kukicha Supreme Green Tea - 8 oz. Foil Bag You will see quite clearly that the picture actually shows a GREEN tea, not a BROWN tea. Actually, I believe this should be just your cup of tea because the description says that it's "High grade Kukicha harvested in early Spring from leaves and tender stems. Fragrant and flavorful with a fresh, savory taste and sweet, mellow finish. Lower in caffeine than other green teas." Next time, please do your research and understand what you're ordering before you write another disparaging and unfair review. In the meantime, I'm ordering a bag right now! ;-)" MY UPDATED REVIEW : I'm not sure what L. Claire is talking about but I did do my research. Plus, in the 10+ years of drinking and ordering kukicha I've never had to specify between the so-called "brown kukicha" and the "green kukicha". Kukicha is ALWAYS green. Kukicha is ALWAYS steamed. There is no such thing as a "typically brown roasted kukicha". Oh, I double checked this with some friends who own a Japanese restaurant as well as checking with several Japanese tea companies. This Davidson "kukicha" tea is roasted - the Japanese call this kind of tea "hojicha" or "houjicha" - hoji meaning "roasted". Kukicha and hojicha are two very different types of drink. I've never liked hojicha, or roasted, or dark, or black teas. As far as caffeine, there's a big "CONTAINS CAFFEINE" label on the Davidson package. Although authentic kukicha does have a small amount of caffeine, I could find no labeling on any of my old kukicha bags that stated it contained caffeine. The way my body reacted - I'm very sensitive to caffeine - I would think the Davidson "Kukicha" contains a considerable larger amount of caffeine than authentic kukicha does. I can drink real kukicha all night without having any caffeine like reactions. Not so with the Davidson "kukicha" - one cup got me pretty buzzed, with sweating forehead and the jitters. I could obviously see that the tea was brown. Where I got confused was that I'd never seen any hojicha that was made FROM kukicha (kuki is Japanese for "stem"). I understand now that hojicha can be made (roasted) from bancha, sencha OR kukicha. So maybe this tea started out as kukicha but it became hojicha when it was roasted. Seeing what looked like kukicha (stems) and seeing that it was being advertised as "kukicha" made me think that it was just a bad photo of the tea. I was wrong. Do your research - there are several good Japanese tea companies on the web that explain the differences in types of tea far better than I can. And contrary to what L. Claire stated, a one pound 2 oz bag of authentic kukicha, direct from Japan in some cases, goes for about $48 - not the $90 per pound price that L. Claire stated. Remember, Google is our friend! I'm not sure what L. Claire's reasoning is - that L. Claire would rather pay less $ for an entirely different product? That's OK too. If you want to pay for a hamburger and then call it filet mignon, knock yourself out. But don't tell me that it's a filet. And obviously the bag was brown - is L. Claire suggesting that the product inside would have to be the same color as it's outer packaging? If so, the kukicha I've been drinking for many years should have been aluminum colored, because that's the color of the bags it comes in. I stand by my original review. And again, if you like hojicha, that's great - nothing wrong with that. But if you're looking for kukicha, do your research - the truth is "out there"!

We have been using this loose leaf tea for several years now. It is a great price for the quality. You won't regret purchasing it!