Tasting Tea | Teaosophy

Although simply grown and harvested, tea is a drink full of flavor complexities and nuances. Tea is generally described as having a foreground (top note), middle ground, and background flavor. These three flavor dimensions come together to create the tea's flavor profile. Teas grown in the same region have a characteristic flavor profile that allows you to compare the quality of teas from estates within the same region. When comparing teas, it is important to evaluate them only against teas from the same growing region, as there are characteristics achieved in some regions that can not be replicated in others.

The liquid produced by the tea leaves (your cup of tea) is sometimes referred to as the tea's liquor. When appreciating a tea's liquor, pay attention to its color and aroma as well as its taste.

Aroma: An attractive smell sometimes referred to as "nose" or "bouquet." High grown teas, such as Darjeeling, are prized for their distinctive aroma.
Astringency: The lively, pungent sensation on your tongue that gives tea its refreshing quality. This is not to be confused with bitterness.
Bakey: An unpleasant taste caused by using very high temperatures during drying ("firing") the leaves and consequently driving out too much moisture.
Biscuity: A pleasant taste resembling fresh baked bread that can be found in some Assam teas.
Bitter: An unpleasant bitter taste.
Body: How the tea liquor feels in your mouth. A tea is described has having light, medium, or full body. Full-bodied teas have fullness and strength as opposed to being thin. A tea's body will vary according to the region in which it was grown.
Brassy: An unpleasant, bitter metallic taste.
Bright: Liquor looks lively as opposed to dull. This quality becomes more apparent after the addition of milk.
Brisk: A vivacious, slightly astringent taste as opposed to flat or soft tasting liquor.
Character: Distinct qualities of the tea that allow the taster to detect the region where the tea was grown.
Color: Describes depth of color. The region when the tea was grown and the grade of tea play a part in the resulting shade and depth of the liquor color.
Coloury: A liquor that possesses depth of color, sometimes indicating full body or taste, but not necessarily so.
Course: An undesirable harsh, bitter taste.
Complex: A multidimensional aroma or taste profile.
Dry: A slightly bakey or scorched taste.
Dull: A liquor that lacks a lively, bright character in both appearance and taste.
Fine: Tea of exceptional taste and quality.
Flat: Lifeless liquor completely lacking in briskness. This can be the result of tea that is old or has been stored improperly.
Flavoury: Tea that has a pronounced, satisfying flavor. Pronounced flavour is more generally found in high grown teas such as Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Kerala, and Ceylon.
Full: Tea possessing color, strength and body as opposed to being empty or thin.
Hard: Tea that has penetrating and desirable strength, particularly used for Assam tea.
Harshness: An unpleasant degree of strength.
Heavy: Tea that possesses a thick, strong liquor with depth of color but is lacking in briskness.
Hungry: When the characteristics generally associated with the tea variety or region of origin are not present.
Light/Pale: Liquor that does not have depth of color but may be flavoury or pungent. Darjeeling tea is a good example of this.
Malty: A desirable malted barley taste often found in Assam tea.
Mellow: Tea leaves which have matured well produce a mellow tasting tea.
Muscatel: Grapey taste. This is an exceptional characteristic found in some Darjeeling tea.
Point(y): A desirable brightness and acidity often associated with Ceylon teas.
Pungent: A bright liquor that has pronounced briskness and a strong, astringent flavor. Highly desirable.
Rich: A pleasantly thick and mellow liquor.
Round: A full, smooth-tasting liquor.
Stale: Tea that has an unpleasant taste because it is old or has been stored in damp conditions.
Strong: Liquor possesses strength of body and flavor.
Thick: Tea that has good body as opposed to being "thin". Assam tea is known for producing a thick liquor.
Thin: Tea that lacks body. This is not necessarily undesirable as certain tea growing regions, such as Darjeeling, are celebrated for their tea's thin, flavoury liquors. However teas from Assam should never have a thin liquor.
Tired: Tea that is past its prime and consequently has a flat or stale character.
Woody: Tea that has a sawdust-like character.

Tasting tea is an art perfected only through experience. Professional tea tasters must undergo years of training in order to develop their pallet. Below is a list of some terms used by tasters for evaluating black tea. While we revere the art of tea tasting, we also wish to point out that you don't have to be an expert to appreciate tea—you just have to know what you like and be willing to experiment.

When tasting tea, use both your taste buds and your sense of smell to discern flavor and quality. Professional tea tasters slurp the tea and quickly swish it around their mouth to get a sense of the tea's body and flavor profile. They then spit out the tea as they quickly move down the line, tasting several teas one after another. You will likely want to skip the spitting step, but you can impress your friends with your tea knowledge by using some of these tasting terms and techniques.

First, smell your uninfused tea pod to determine the tea's "nose" (smell of the dry leaf) and examine the leaves inside. Evaluate the leaves to see if they have the following characteristics.

Adhesive: Well-rolled, wiry leaves that tend to cling together when picked up.
Attractive: Well-made, uniform in color, size, and texture.
Bloom: Leaves look lively and have a lustrous quality.
Brown: Leaves are brown in color. Although black is a desirable color for black tea leaves, tippy teas are never totally black due to the presence of the lighter-colored tips, which are desirable.
Dull: Lacking bloom.
Dusty: Leaf tea that contains some tea dust.
Golden Tip: Tea contains golden colored leaf tips. This is desirable.
Leafy: Tea containing larger than average leaves.
Leggy: Tea leaves are long and thin.
Stylish: Leaf of superior appearance containing "tip".
Tip: Pieces of the leaf tip.
Tippy: Teas that contain generous amounts of leaf tip and therefore produce a more flavorful cup.
Well-twisted: Refers to how the leaf was rolled. A leaf that has "twist" is well-rolled.
Whiskery: Leaves covered with a fine hairy fiber. Also described as "hairy".
Wiry: A thin long leaf that has been nicely rolled.

After steeping your pod in hot water, remove and smell the fragrant leaves after they have infused their flavor into your cup. This is an often-overlooked part of the tea tasting experience. Open up you bag and examine the leaves to see if they possess the following characteristics.

Aroma: Leaves have a fragrant smell.
Bright: Leaves have a lively reflective quality rather than looking dull.
Coppery: Leaves have a coppery color, usually denoting a good quality tea.
Dark: Leaves are dark or dull in color, sometimes denoting a lesser quality tea.
Dull: Leaves that lack a bright, reflective quality.