Oliver Pluff & Co. Gunpowder Green Tea

I received a number of new teas as gifts over Christmas, so this week, I tried this gunpowder tea from Oliver Pluff & Co. This tea company is based in Charleston, S.C., which always makes me think of Theodosia Browning's tea shop in the Laura Childs cozy mysteries.

I'm pretty sure I could pick gunpowder tea out of a lineup because of its tight little balls of tea that resemble gunpowder pellets.

 I always think, "What if the tea leaves don't expand?" And yet they always do.

I had sipped a lot of flavored tea this week, so this nice green tea (which doesn't look like green tea in the cup) was a most welcome change. I liked the slightly roasted flavor I detected in this tea, and I got multiple steepings of it. I'm hoping to try a new tea each week of January since it's National Hot Tea Month, and this one was a winner!