Uncle Lee's Tea Premium Gunpowder Green Tea Bulk. Uncle Lee's Gunpowder Green Tea in Bulk derives its name from the shape of the finished tea leaves. Legend has it that the name "Gunpowder" was given by an imaginative English clerk who thought that the dark green tea leaves, rolled into round pellets looked like gunpowder. In china that name for gunpowder tea "pearl tea". Rolling the leaves has a beneficial effect on the quality of the tea. Not only does it force to the surface flavorful juices that otherwise would remain in the leaf, but the pellet retains its shape during firing and keeps its freshness longer than other loose leaf teas.