A
Attractive:
Useful liquoring tea which has a degree of quality
Autumnal:
Teas harvested in autumn and touched with cooler weather. Autumnal teas frequently produce a reddish leaf.
B
Baggy:
An undesirable taint sometimes found in teas withered on inferior hessian or sacking. This taint may also be apparent in teas which have been stored in bags.
Bakey:
An unpleasant character noticeable in the liquors of teas which have been subjected to higher than desirable temperatures during the firing operation.
Biscuity:
Tea taster’s expression, often used with Assam teas that have been fired well but not overly so. A not unpleasant character reminiscent of biscuits.
Bite:
Descriptive of a very brisk and alive tea liquor
Black Currant:
An extremely desirable characteristic occasionally noticeable in the liquors and infusions of fine darjeelings, akin to the aroma emitted by black currant bushes.
Body:
Describes liquor possessing fullness and strength as opposed to a thin liquoring tea
Brisk:
A live taste in liquor as opposed to flat or soft.
Burn:
Applicable generally to Darjeeling teas, denoting a fully fired and often desirable cup character
Burnt:
An undesirable character found in teas which have been subjected to abnormally high temperatures during firing, a degree worse than bakey.
C
Cedar Wood:
A woody character suggestive of the smell emitted by cigar boxes.
Character:
A desirable quality in the liquor of tea which permits the recognition of its country of origin or of a particular district within the country.
Cheesy:
An undesirable character suggestive of slightly rancid butter, generally attributed to insufficiently seasoned or inferior chest battens.
Clean:
A tea which lacks character but has no unpleasant taste and is neutral to the palate.
Coarse:
A harsh, undesirable liquor sometimes caused by the presence of stalk and / or fibre in the dry leaf
Common:
A general term employed for inferior tea having little to commend it and being generally undesirable. Rather worse than plain.
Chai:
An Indian term to describe tea, often referring to masala chai, or spiced tea, a strong black tea infused with milk, sugar, and spices
Contamination:
A tea which has a foreign character caused by contact with, or proximity to an odorous substance, for example, sopa, cheese, spice, fruit, oil, mint etc
Cream(y):
Round, smooth the precipitate which is apparent when the liquor of a good strong tea cools. It is a combination of catechin with caffeine. This remains a solution in the hot tea infusions. On cooling, this is thrown out of solution and so remains suspended but after long standing settles at the bottom. A bright cream indicates a good tea, whereas a dull or muddy cream is indicative of an inferior tea.
Croppy:
A bright and creamy tea liquor with an attractive fresh character, found only in some second Flush Assams and a few Flush Dooars of Orthodox manufacture.
D
Dry:
The effect created on the palate when testing such a liquor and is closely associated with a slight bakiness or high fired or scorched character.
Dull:
Neither lively nor brisk on the palate and such is desirable
E
Earthy:
An undesirable character discernible in teas which have been stored in unsatisfactory conditions.
Empty:
A tea liquor having no substance that is lacking in fullness.
F
Fine:
Teas of exceptional quality and flavour
Flat:
Uninteresting lifeless tea liquor which is lacking in brightness and briskness. This may result from age or storage under conditions which are not satisfactory
Fibrous:
Teas which contain a large percentage of fannings
Firing:
The process of rapidly heating the leaf, either with hot air or in a wok, to quickly halt fermentation and dry the leaf to its final product
Flat:
Teas lacking astringency or briskness
Flowery:
Used in grading the size of tea, it typically indicates a leaf style with more of the lighter colored tips
Flush:
The freshly-picked tea leaves, typically comprising the bud and first two leaves of the growing tea shoot
Flying tea:
A frothy, breakfast-time beverage from Malaysia.Also known as tea terbang, it is hot, strong tea with plenty of condensed milk. The mixture is poured back and forth between two jugs from as high as the pourer’s arm can reach, until the tea has developed a thick, frothy head.
Formosa:
Tea produced in Taiwan, typically oolong teas
Full:
Strong tea without bitterness and possessing good color
G
Genmaicha:
Green tea with toasted rice, a Japanese delicacy
Golden:
Denoting the orange colored tip present in high quality black tea
Gong fu:
Meaning performed with care, this typically refers to a style of brewing with many repeated short infusions of leaf in a miniature pot
Grade:
Term used to describe a tea leaf or particle size of leaf
Grainy:
Term used to describe high quality CTC teas
Green:
Unfermented, dried tea, more commonly found in China and Japan
Gunpowder:
A green tea, which is rolled into pellets that unfurl in hot water
Gyokuro:
Japanese green tea produced from shaded plants, also known as Pearl Dew
H
Hard:
Pungent tea, desired in some Assam teas
Harsh:
Bitter teas
Heavy:
A thick, coloury infusion with little briskness or astringency
J
Jasmine:
Black tea scented with jasmine flowers, typically made with green Pouchong tea as the base
K
Keemun:
Black tea from central China, typically hand rolled and fired
L
Lapsang Souchong:
A Chinese black tea which is fired (dried) over a smoky (pine wood) fire to impart its characteristic smoky flavor
Light:
Liquor lacking body or thickness
M
Matcha:
Powdered green tea from Japan used in the tea ceremony
Malty:
Slightly over-fired tea, sometimes desirable
Metallic:
Tea taster’s term to denote coppery taste of some teas
Muddy:
Tea taster’s term to denote a dull, blackish color of the infusion
N
Nose:
The aroma of the tea
O
Oolong:
A form of tea characterized by lighter brews and larger leaf styles, typically understood as lightly fermented tea, between green and black tea on a continuum
Orange pekoe:
Referring to size of leaf, not quality or flavor, this term indicates a larger-size grade of whole leaf teas
Orthodox:
Prepared using a technique which leads to larger leaf styles mirroring hand-produced teas
P
Pan fired:
Tea that is steamed and then agitated in an iron wok over a fire
Pekoe:
Whole leaf black tea produced by a medium plucking of the second leaf on the tea bush (The word Pekoe comes from the Chinese meaning white hair and was originally applied to the early tea pluckings, due to the white down on the backs of the young leaf tea.)
Plain:
Tea taster’s term to denote dull liquor with sour taste
Plucking:
The process of harvesting the tea by cutting the flush from the growing tea shrub
Polyphenols:
Astringent compounds present in tea (Also check Tea & Health)
Pungent:
Tea taster’s term to denote a very astringent tea
R
Rawness:
Bitter taste
Rolling:
The process of crushing the leaves to initiate fermentation and impart twist
S
Self drinking:
Rounded, well bodied tea that can be served unblended
Smoky:
Tea taster’s term for teas that have been fired over smoky flames, imparting a smoky flavour
Soft:
Tea taster’s term for underfermented teas
Sorting:
The fifth stage of manufacture. The dried leaf is sorted mechanically by sifting the different leaf size particles or grades through different size meshes
Souchong:
Term for large leaf teas derived from the third and fourth leaf of the tea shoot
Stalk:
Describes teas with presence of red stalk pieces from a hard plucking
T
Tannin:
Erroneous term referring to the astringent polyphenols of tea, unrelated to tannic acid polyphenols of other plants
Tarry:
Tea taster’s term for teas that have been fired over smoky flames, imparting a smoky flavour
Tat:
Shelf made of wire mesh or burlap used to spread the leaves out for withering and fermentation
Theaflavins:
Orange red potyphenols unique to fermented teas such as black tea, and formed from the condensation of two catechins (Also check Tea & Health)
Theanine:
Unique amino acid in tea (Also check Tea & Health)
Tip:
The bud leaves on a tea bush
Tippy:
Teas with white or golden tips, indicating high quality
Tisane:
Teas produced from the leaves of plants other than the tea plant, also known as herbal tea
Twist:
Before fermentation, the leaves need to be crushed to initiate oxidation that imparts the curled appearance of the finished leaf
Two and a bud:
The ideal plucked tea for production, consisting of the new tea shoot and the first two leaves
W
White:
A special type of green tea, distinguished by the presence of the white hairs of the tea flush (baihao) and a lighter green, almost clear, infusion.
Winey:
Mellow quality, characteristic of some Keemun teas which have been given time to age
Withering:
The first step in tea manufacture in the tea factory that involves letting the fresh leaves wither for some period of time after plucking to reduce moisture content
Woody:
Tea taster’s term indicating an undesirable grass