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