Tea Tasting Terms
Body: a tea with body has a strong
liquor not a thin, weak one.Bold: big
pieces of leaf
Bouquet: a complex flowery or perfumey
aroma
Brassy: refers to a liquor with a
bitter taste
Bright: a bright liquor, not dull
in appearance
Brisk: a lively taste, a
well-fermented, well-fired tea
Choppy: leaf that has been chopped
in a breaker or cutter rather than rolled
Coarse: a liquor that has
strength but poor quality
Colory: special category tea with
good colored liquor
Complex: A flavor or aroma with
many dimensions.
Dull: the opposite of bright, an
not a desirable quality
Even: leaf that is in flakes rather
than twisted pieces
Flat: a tea that has gone
off, has too much moisture
Flavory: with a distinctive
taste
Fruity: a sweet, fruity flavor
Grainy: denotes well-made fannings
or dusts
Gray: gray-colored leaf resulting
from over-cutting or because the desirable coating of juices on the leaf has
been rubbed off due to over-handling during the sifting stage
Greenish: an infusion with a
bright green color, not desirable, due to under-rolling or under-fermentation. A
general characteristic of green teas, ranging from grassy to herbaceous to
seaweed
Harsh: a bitter, raw taste
with little strength
Irregular: uneven-size pieces of
leaf
Malty: with a hint of malt, found
in well-made teas
Mellow: the opposite of greenish,
harsh, etc
Point: leaf with desirable
briskness
Plain: lacking in desirable
qualities
Pungent: astringent without being
bitter
Ragged: uneven and irregular pieces
of leaf
Smooth: with a pleasant, rounded
taste
Smoky: Ranging from subtle aromas
of wood smoke to a strong scent of smoke
Tainted: unpleasant flavor caused
by chemicals used in cultivation, or by damp conditions, or by pollution during
transportation, etc
Thin: a tea with little strength
due to hard withering, under-rolling, or too high a temperature during rolling
Tip: the very end of the delicate
young leaf
Wiry: well-twisted leaf, as opposed
to open pieces
*From The Tea Companion, by Jane Pettigrew
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