Vocabulario té

Here is a list of terms which are used extensively during tea tasting.

Terms used for evaluating Liquor

Autumnal: A seasonal term applied to teas grown during the period, possessing flavour

Bakey: Unpleasant taste usually caused by very high temperatures and driving out too
much moisture during firing

Body: A liquor possessing fullness and strength

Bright: As opposed to dull

Brisk: A live taste in the liquor, as opposed to be flat or soft

Burn: Generally applicable to Darjeeling Tea

Burnt: Tea which has been subjected to extreme high temperature during firing.
Undesirable

Character: A most desirable quality which also permits recognition of the origin of
growth of the tea

Coarse: Opposed to brisk, Generally descriptive of secondary CTC dusts

Colour: Denoting depth of the colour. Different growth / grades possess varying hues
of colour

Contamination: Taint, A taste foreign to tea, caused by contact or proximity to odours

substances eg. Oil, spices, chemical, bacteria etc.

Creamy: Precipitate obtained on cooling of tea. A bright cream indicates a good tea.

Dry: Slightly bakey or high fired

Dull: A liquor that is neither clear or bright/brisk. Caused by several factors such as
bacterial contamination, faulty firing of excessive moisture content

Flat: A liquor possessing strength and body

Fully Fired: Slightly over-fired. The term cautions for ensuring that future manufacture
doe not become high fired.

Harsh: Usually the result of immature tea or tea made from coarse leaf. Inefficient
fermenting/drying may cause harshness.

High-fired: A tea which received too much fire

Mouldy: Suspension of mould

Old: Having lost most original attributes through age

Pungent: Extremely brisk, most desirable

Quality: Essential characteristics of a good tea

Smokey: Self explanatory

Soft: Liquor characters reverse of brisk, lacking life

Stewy: Where fermentation has not been arrested in the dryer

Strength/Strong: Substance in liquor body

Sweaty : Undesirable taste due to storage in heaps on floor for long durations

Thin: Lacking in body – often due to under withering or inadequate fermentation

Wild: Liquor character found in end of season teas. Undesirable

Terms used for evaluating infused leaf

Bright : Alive, as opposed to a dull looking infusion

Coppery: Colour of infused leaf, usually denoting a good quality tea. Reference
particularly to CTC

Dull: Opposed to bright.

Even: The term is usually combines with ‘bright’ or ‘coppery’, no irregularity in colour

Mixed / Uneven : Infused leaf which has more than one colour

Green: Generally undesirable. Typical of first flush

Terms used for evaluating dry leaf

Acceptable: A tea which incspite of a fault can be taken to the market

Attractive: Well made, uniform in colour and size

Black: Describing colour of dry leaf a desirable characteristic for orthodox teas

Blackish: Used for CTC tea. Desirable for internal market

Bloom: A live, rather than dull looking tea. Bloom is often lost to cutting / over
handling during sorting

Bold: Pieces leaf that are too big for a grade

Brown: Undesirable leaf colour both for Orthodox and CTC

Case- hardened: Hardening of the outside case of the leaf, caused by too quick and
hard fire. Such teas seldom keep well

Chesty: Taint caused by unseasoned chest  panels

Chunky: Usually applied to large sized tip. Desirable

Clean: Free of stalk/fibre

Cut: Orthodox leaf cut in breaker rather than sized in the roller

Even: Grade consisting of roughly equal size pieces

Fiber: Shreds of stalks in CTC grade – indicating bad plucking

Flaky: A flat, open leaf as opposed to a well twisted leaf. Usually the result of poor
withering / rolling

Golden Tip: Highly desirable feature in Orthodox teas, representative of pubescent

buds

Grape nutty: CTC teas not having completely smooth appearance

Grainy: Hard cut CTC leaf, desirable for internal market

Grey: Most undesirable colour of dry leaf caused by faulty handling, over sorting

Gritty: CTC leaf that feels jagged to the touch

Green – leaf: The result of insufficient withering or under fermentation in CTC teas

Irregular: Describing size of a grade, implying it is too large for market requirements

Large: Describing size of a grade, implying its too large for market requirements

Make: A tea having ‘make’ has been carefully manufactured

Milled: Tea leaf put through a cutter and ground

Mixed: Denotes presence of other grades in a particular grade. Undesirable

Neat: Well made teas of even appearance

Pale tip: Denoting colour, in contrast to ‘golden’ generally less valuable

Ragged: Rough and uneven leaf

Reddish: Usually end of season leaf colour

Shotty: Well made and rolled, particularly of Orthodox BPS

Small: A grade of lesser size than is normal for it

Stalky: Indicating undue presence of stalk. The result of coarse plucking

Stylish: Neat and of superior leaf appearance

Twist: Well rolled, particular reference to whole leaf

Uneven: a grade composed of uneven pieces of leaf

Well-made: Uniform in colour, size and texture

Whiskery: Long fibre, Undesirable

Additional Tea Tasting Terms used to describe Darjeeling Tea

Aroma: It is the aroma of the tea liquor also referred as nose or fragrance. A complex
aroma is described as a bouquet.

Astringency: No bitterness, a clean refreshing quality. It also has a mouth drying effect
on the tongue. Astringency is a reaction between polyphenols (tannins) and the protein
in saliva.

Body: Usually used to describe the tea its fullness and strength. Usually described as
light, medium of full. Also used to describe CTC tea – lively with bright / red liquor.

Bright: Describes a good quality fresh tea, also used to describe a cup of CTC liquor. A
tea which is clean and refreshes the palate. 

Brisk: Usually used to describe the a fresh lively taste in the liquor. It is fresh on the
palate and has no additional taints.

Clean: explains that the liquor is pure and is absent of any off-tastes.

Character: Describes tea from a particular region, origin and type of tea.

Finish: The taste left on your tongue after you have swallowed the tea

Malty: The main characteristic of good Assam Black tea.

Flowery: Described by the nose, usually associated with Darjeeling and speciality teas

Full: A strong cup of tea, with good colour, strength and no bitterness

Muscatel: A flavour found in muscat grapes, also found in good second flush
Darjeeling tea

Smooth: Fine round-bodied tea

Soft: Lacks any life, best described as the opposite of briskness

Vegetal: A term used to describe green tea, the grassy feel