So you are just trying a tea for the first time and you want to know two things, whether you like it, and whether it’s a quality tea. Those two categories are very different; sometimes I prefer teas that are lower quality than what is available to me. For that reason we will stick simply with what aspects to look for in a tea including bitterness vs. astringency, roughness vs. smoothness, aftertaste, boldness vs. weakness and slipperiness vs. thickness.
Most people only think of the taste and flavor of tea. Yes, they indeed mean two different things: Taste is what you experience through your taste buds; flavor is experienced through your sense of smell. These two aspects are probably the most important factors in whether you like or not like a tea, but there are more to consider.
Two common “quirks” of tea that is often noticed forcefully, is bitterness and astringency. We certainly do not want our tea to be bitter and have our whole mouth suddenly pucker up. That would certainly not be relaxing which is a key part of drinking tea. However, astringency, the dryness you feel on your tongue or other places inside your mouth is oddly found by some people to be a necessity of tea. I consider that if a tea does not give a slight rough feeling to part of your mouth, it isn’t tea. This is sometimes thought of for green teas. There are terms to describe astringency that are more pleasant than that long and distasteful sounding word. Many people use the word “rough” with its antonym “smooth.” In fact a tea can be both, but in different parts of the mouth. For example, a tea can be rough on the upper part of the mouth while it is smooth along the tongue.
Probably the aspect most common with taste and flavor is the tea’s aftertaste, which can also be noticed mistakenly. When a tea is swallowed the experience doesn’t stop there, far from it. One thing that’s found after you swallow is the flavor, depth and length of the aftertaste (length meaning how long it lasts.) It’s quite easy to determine this, but it does mean you have to stop drinking your tea or at least pause or take frequent sips especially when tasting a new tea (of course one should never gulp down tea.) Breathing and concentration is needed to figure out the precise flavor, depth and length of the tea’s aftertaste. Sometimes when you breathe out, the flavor of the tea can go straight up through your nose. Most often tea lingers on your tongue for quite some time. Green tea is said to be “sweet” when the lingering taste becomes sweet, not the initial impression. Depth is another term we use for aftertaste which focuses on where in your mouth, or even throat, the flavor stays. It can stay anywhere from the very front of your upper mouth to deep in your throat. Some aspects of aftertaste are more easily discernable than others, but as with all factors of tea, experience makes things easier.
Then there comes the strength of tea. Bold teas and weak teas are easily detected. Can you feel a burst of flavor almost like an explosion? Or does it take a few sips to even taste it? No matter which type of tea you are drinking, there will always be the bold and the weak. There’s not much to say about detecting this, it’s probably easier to discern than the flavor. Normally bold teas are preferred seeing that one would not wish to pay and take the time to brew tea that tastes too much like water. However, some weak teas can be deceiving. Behind what little taste you can detect in the initial sip, the tea may conclude itself with a burst of aftertaste and this can be the bold part of the tea.
Can a tea be “slippery?” Indeed in can, as well as “thick.” A slippery quality can easily be confused with smooth, but it isn’t the same thing. A smooth tea doesn’t roughen your tongue, while a slippery tea might. The key thing to think about when trying to determine whether a tea is slippery or thick is how it moves around in your mouth. Some teas almost always “sink” straight to the bottom of your mouth and feel as if they “want to be swallowed.” It’s a characteristic that has to be looked for and experienced before you can detect it. Thick tea are much more common, and just like slippery teas, you might not understand that the tea you are drinking is thick. Slippery teas are hard to find but many well aged teas seem to carry a slippery characteristic.
These are the main aspects of tea. I have not underlined what makes a quality tea because different aspects are sought after for each tea, and there are more teas than one can imagine. But each of these characteristics can help you determine which tea you like the most. The more you feel through your tea the more you can appreciate it, the more you appreciate it, the more you are relaxed, the more you are relaxed the healthier of mind you are.
-Eric Glass