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Tea Tasting Glossary
Terms
Describing Dry Leaf
A B
C
D E
F
G
H I J K L
M
N
O P
Q R
S
T
U
V W
X Y Z
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B
Black
A
black appearance is desirable preferably with 'bloom'.
Blackish
A
satisfactory appearance for CTC type teas. Denotes careful sorting.
Bloom
A
sign of good manufacture and sorting (where reduction of leaf has taken
place before firing) a 'sheen' that has not been lost through
over-handling or over-sorting.
Bold
Particles of leaf which are too large for the particular grade.
Brown
A
brown appearance in CTC type teas that normally indicate overly harsh
treatment of leaf.
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C
Chesty
Tea
tainted by inferior or unseasoned packing materials.
Chunky
A
very large broken-leaf tea.
Clean
Leaf
that is free from fiber, dirt and all extraneous matter.
Crepy
Leaf
with a crimped appearance common to larger grade broken-leaf teas such as
BOP.
Curly
Leaf
appearance of whole leaf grade teas such as OP, as distinct from
'wiry'.
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E
Even
Teas
true to their grade, consisting of pieces of leaf of fairly even size.
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F
Flaky
Flat
open pieces of leaf often light in texture.
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G
Grey
Caused
by too much abrasion during sorting.
Grainy
Describes primary grades of well-made CTC teas such as Pekoe dust.
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L
Leafy
A tea
in which the tea tends to be on the large or longish size.
Light
Tea
light in weight, of poor density and sometimes flaky.
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M
Make
A term
used to describe a tea manufacture. In tea-taster's terms a "make" means a
well-made tea or not true to its grade.
Mushy
Tea
that has been packed or stored with a high moisture content.
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N
Neat
A
grade of tea having good ěmakeî and size.
Nose
Smell
of the dry leaf.
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P
Powdery
Fine light dust as the tea people say meaning a very fine light
leaf particle.
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R
Ragged
An
uneven badly manufactured and graded tea.
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S
Stalk and Fiber
Bits of tea bush other than the leaf, which should be minimal in
superior grades but are unavoidable in lower-grade teas.
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T
Tip
A sing
of fine plucking apparent in top grades of tea.
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U
Uneven and Mixed
'Uneven' pieces of leaf particles indicating poor sorting and
resulting in a tea not true to a particular grade.
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W
Well Twisted
Used to describe whole-leaf Orthodox tea grades, often referred to
as well 'made' or 'rolled'.
Wiry
Leaf
appearance of a well-twisted, thin, long leaf.
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