Literally, pearl tea. Pearl tea is what Chinese call Gunpowder, the grey-green rolled-leaf pellets with the best keeping quality of any green tea. Gunpowder is made from young to medium leaf and, historically, the smaller the pellets, the more expensive the tea. Traditionally, grades ran from Extra First Pinhead up to Pinhead, Pea leaf, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Common. Today most Zhucha or Gunpowder is machine-rolled and uniformly sized leaf.