How easily prejudiced we are. Say Green Pearl and it conjures up images of a fragile aroma, an elusive elegance that tickles the palate. Say Gunpowder and it evokes coarse strength that sends shock bolts down your palate.

Except they are one and the same tea, a mellow green that usually come from Zhejiang in southeastern China. It was once sold as Green Pearl in Europe, but is now known as Gunpowder.

By sheer chance, it was the first green tea I ever tried. No noble reason for picking itâ??it was just cheaper than most, and I was a student. I remember the taste bowled me over. I knew very little about China tea at the time and I had thought the nameâ??Gunpowderâ??would be an indication of flavor. So I had naturally expected something strong and explosive. Instead, it was a subtle tea that my Assam-tuned palate would refuse to call anything but delicate. Had I known it, I would have thought Green Pearl a perfectly fitting name.

I have learned much since then. That the teaâ??s name had to do with the shape of the leaves, rolled tightly to look like gunpowder pelletsâ??or indeed green pearls. That, as far as green teas go, Gunpowder is reasonably flavorsome, though by no means explosive. And that I like other green teas better.

But that first experience conditioned my palate like the metronome with Pavlovâ??s hungry dog. Gunpowder still shapes my eternal form, my Platonic idea of green tea. It is my unconscious frame of reference.

So I couldnâ??t help but include it in my tour. I got the sample size of Special Teasâ?? Temple of Heaven. It is a Pinhead, which means that the little pearls of tea are tightly rolled and very small. A teaspoon steeped in 12oz water for two minutes gave a rich golden cup with a very delicate scentâ??vegetaley, with barely a hint of undergrowth. The taste was mild, with a subtle vegetaley accent in the end. It brought to mind the beautiful Sisley landscapes I saw at an exhibition in Madrid, Spain, four years ago. On second steep, for three minutes, the scent acquired an ephemeral floral note. On third steep, a slight astringency came across in the end.

In all, though, it remained mild, easy drinking that belied its bellicose name. But I will always wonder whether I would have deemed it just as mild had it been called Green Pearl instead.