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Terms Describing
Tea Liquor
Baggy - an unpleasant
taste, normally resulting from the tea being carried or
wrapped in unlined Hessian bags.
Bakey
- an over-fired tea, with the result that too much of
the moisture has been driven off the leaf while drying.
Bitter - an unpleasant
taste associated with raw teas.
Body
- a liquor having both fullness and strength as opposed
to being thin.
Brassy
- an unpleasant metallic quality similar to brass. Usually
associated with un-withered tea.
Bright
- denotes a lively fresh tea with good keeping quality.
Brisk- the most live characteristic.
Results from good manufacture.
Burned
- taint caused by extreme over drying during manufacture.
Character - an attractive
taste, specific to growth origin, describing teas grown
at high altitude.
Coarse
- a tea producing a harsh, undesirable liquor with taste
to match.
Coloury
- indicates useful depth of colour and strength.
Common - a very plain, light
and thin liquor with no distinct flavour.
Cream
- a natural precipitate obtained as the liquor cools down.
Dry- indicates slight
over-firing or drying during manufacture.
Dull
- not clear, lacking any brightness or briskness.
Earthy - normally caused
by damp storage of tea, but can also describe a taste
that is sometimes climatically incoherent in teas from
certain regions.
Empty
- a liquor lacking fullness. No substance.
Flat
- not fresh, usually due to the age of the tea as tea
tends to lose its characteristics and taste with age,
unlike some wines.
Flavour
- a most desirable extension of character, caused by slow
growth at high altitudes. Relatively rare.
Fruity
- can be due to over fermenting during manufacture and/or
bacterial infection before firing or drying, which gives
the tea an over ripe taste. Unlike wines this is not a
desirable taste in tea.
Full
- a good combination of strength and colour.
Green - when referring to black
tea liquor denotes an immature 'raw' character. This is
mostly due to under fermenting and sometimes to under
withering during manufacture.
Hard
- a very pungent liquor, a desirable quality in tea.
Harsh - a taste generally
due to the leaf being under withered during manufacture
resulting in a very rough taste.
Heavy
- a thick, strong and coloury liquor with limited briskness.
High-fired - over fired
or dried but not bakey or burned.
Lacking
- describes a neutral liquor with no body or pronounced
characteristics.
Light
- lacking strength and depth of colour.
Malty
- desirable character in some Assam teas. A full,
bright tea with a malty taste.
Mature
- not bitter or flat.
Metallic
- a sharp coppery taste.
Muddy
- a dull opaque liquor.
Musty
- a suspicion of mould.
Plain
- a liquor that is 'clean' but lacking in desirable characteristics.
Point - a bright, acidic
and penetrating characteristic.
Pungent
- astringent with a good combination of briskness, brightness
and strength.
Quality
- refers to cup quality and denotes a combination of the
most desirable
liquoring qualities.
Rasping
- a very coarse and harsh liquor.
Raw
- a bitter, unpleasant taste.
Soft
- the opposite of briskness. Tea lacking any live characteristics
and is caused by inefficient fermentation and/or drying.
Stewed - a soft liquor
with undesirable taste that lacks point. Caused by faulty
firing, or drying, at low temperatures and often with
insufficient airflow through the oven during tea manufacture
or making.
Strength
- substance in cup.
Sweaty
- disagreeable taste. Poor tea.
Taint
- characteristic or taste that is foreign to tea such
as oil, garlic etc. Often due to the tea being stored
next to other commodities with strong characteristics
of their own.
Thick
- liquor with good colour and strength.
Thin
- an insipid, light liquor that lacks desirable characteristics.
Weedy - grass or hay taste
associated with teas that have been under withered during
manufacture and sometimes referred to as woody. |
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