Tea Tasting Terms
Professional tea tasters - brokers, agents, and buyers - are the most particular tea drinkers in the world. Experienced tasters can compare as many as a hundred teas, and can quickly judge which teas will blend well with others. Tea tasters have an extensive vocabulary to describe the teas they are tasting. Like wine tasters, tea tasters seek complex flavor characteristics - flowery, woody, malty, pungent - and especially prize mellowness (lack of harshness).
Here are some terms used by professional tea tasters to described infused tea:
- Body - The weight and qaulity of the tea on the tongue. Can be described as wispy, light, medium, or full.
- Brassy - Strong and bitter; caused by underwithering of black tea.
- Bright - Lively, fresh, and high quality.
- Brisk - Opposite of "flat"; pungent without being undesirably high in tannin content.
- Burnt - An off flavor caused by overfiring.
- Chocolaty - A desirable flavor quality of fine Darjeelings.
- Coarse - Bitter or overly acid; attributable to improper processing.
- Dull - Muddy looking; the opposite of "bright" or "brisk."
- Earthy - May be inherent to the leaf, or caused by damp storage.
- Flat - Off, stale taste; usually a property of old teas.
- Full-bodied - An ideal combination of strength and color.
- Green - When said of black tea, refers to immaturity of character due to underoxidation or underwithering.
- Harsh - Very rough in flavor; associated with underwithered teas.
- Heavy - Low in briskness and very full-bodied.
- Light - Lacking strength and depth of color.
- Malty - Subtle, underlying flavor; a desirable quality in Assam teas.
- Mellow - Smooth, easy, pleasant.
- Metallic - A sharp, coppery flavor.
- Point - Used to describe a leaf with desirable brightness and acidity.
- Pungent - Pleasantly astringent; a good combination or briskness, strength, and brightness.
- Self-drinking - A tea that can be drunk alone, without blending with other leaves.
- Smooth - Rounded in flavor, pleasant on the palate.
- Soft - The opposite of "brisk"; caused by inefficient oxidation or firing.
- Vegetative - Grassy flavor, a desirable characteristic of some green teas.
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