Tea Tasting Glossary
Terms Describing Dry Leaf
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 the reduction of leaf has mainly taken place before
firing), a "sheen" that has not been lost thought 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 indicates overly harsh treatment of the leaf.
Chesty - Taint created by inferior
or unseasoned packing materials
Chunky - A very large broken-leaf
tea.
Clean - Leaf that is free form fibre,
dust and all extraneous matter.
Crepy - A crimped appearance common
to large-grade broken-leaf teas such as B.O.P.
Curly - The leaf appearance of whole
leaf grade teas such as O.P. ,as distinct from "wiry".
Even - True to the grade, consisting
of pieces of leaf of fairly even size.
Flaky - Flat, open and often light
in texture. Gray - Caused by too
much abrasion during sorting.
Grainy - Describes primary grades
of well-made CTC teas such as Pekoe Dust.
Leafy - A tea in which leaves tend
to be on the large or long side.
Light - A tea light in weight of
poor density. Could sometimes be flaky.
Make - Well -made tea (or not),
true to its grade.
Mushy - A tea that has been packed
or stored with a high moisture content.
Musty - A tea affected by mildew.
Neat - A grade having good "make"
and size.
Nose - Smell of the dry leaf.
Powdery - Fine light dust.
Ragged - An uneven, badly manufactured
and graded tea.
Stalk & Fiber - Should be minimal
in superior grades, but is generally unavoidable in lower-
grade teas.
Tip - A sign of fine plucking, apparent
in top grades of tea.
Uneven & Mixed - "Uneven"
pieces of leaf usually indicative of poor sorting and not true to
the particular grade.
Well Twisted - Whole-leaf grades,
often referred to as "well-made" or "rolled."
Wiry - Leaf appearance of a well-twisted,
thin-leaf tea.
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