Visual characteristics of the appearance and dry leaf quality of Gunpowder tea and Chunmee tea

High-quality *Mei* (Chunmee) tea features long, curved strips resembling arched eyebrows; the tips are intact, the surface bears a natural silvery-white "frost," and the color is a lustrous, vibrant emerald green. In contrast, lower-grade *Mei* tea consists of short, broken, and yellowish-brown strips. *Zhu* (Gunpowder) tea is shaped through rolling and roasting, resulting in round, compact, and heavy-bodied granules. Premium *Zhu* tea is uniform in size with a glossy, dark-green sheen and is free of loose dust or fragments; the rounder the granules and the greater their uniformity, the superior the raw material and processing technique, whereas broken granules and tea dust are typically relegated to use in lower-grade blends.