Terms Describing Dry Leaf

Black: A black appearance is desirable, preferably with "bloom". This term is used with Orthodox or Rotorvane manufacture.

Blackish: This is a satisfactory appearance for CTC and LTP manufacture teas and denotes careful sorting.

Bloom: A sign of good manufacture and sorting (where the reduction of leaf has mainly taken place before firing). A "sheen" which has not been removed by over-handling or over-sorting.

Brown: A brown appearance, with CTC and LTP manufacture, normally reflects too hard treatment of the leaf.

Chesty: Inferior or unseasoned packing materials causes this taint.

Choppy: Orthodox (or Rotorvane) manufacture leaf which has to be cut by a "breaker" during sorting.

Chunky: A very large broken from Orthodox manufacture.

Clean: Leaf which is free from fibre, dust and any extraneous matter.

Crepy: A crimped appearance common with the larger grade broken from Orthodox manufacture, such as BOP.  

Curly: The leaf appearance of whole leaf grade Orthodox teas such as OP as opposed to wiry.

Even: True to the grade and consisting of pieces of leaf of quite even size.

Flakey: Flat, open and often light in texture.

Grey: Caused by too much abrasion during sorting.

Grainy: Describes well made CTC or LTP primary grades, more particularly Pekoe Dust and Dust 1 grades.

Leafy: Orthodox manufacture leaf tending to be on the large or long side.

Light: A tea light in weight and of poor density. Sometimes flakey.

Make: Well made (or not) and must be true to the grade.

Mushy: A tea which 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 and Fibre: Should be minimal in primary or top grades, but generally unavoidable in the lower grades.

Tip: A sign of fine plucking and apparent in the top grades of Orthodox manufacture.

Uneven and Mixed: "Uneven" pieces of leaf usually indicative of poor sorting and not true to the particular grade.

Well Twisted: Applicable to Orthodox manufacture. Often referred to as "well made" or "rolled" and used for describing whole leaf grades.

Wiry: Leaf appearance of a well twisted, thin leaf Orthodox tea.

Terms Describing Infused Leaf

Aroma: Smell or scent denoting "inherent character", usually at high elevations.  

Biscuity: A pleasant aroma often found in a well fired Assam.

Bright: A lively bright appearance. Usually indicates bright liqueurs.

Coppery: Bright leaf which indicates a well manufactured tea.

Dull: Lacks brightness and usually denotes a poor tea. Can be due to faulty manufacture and firing, or a high moisture content.

Dark: A dark or dull colour which usually indicates poorer leaf.

Green: Caused by under-fermentation, or characteristic of leaf from immature bushes (liqueurs often raw or light). Can also be caused by poor rolling with Orthodox teas.

Mixed or Uneven: Leaf of varying colour.

Tarry: A smokey aroma.

Terms Describing Liquors

Baggy: A taint normally resulting from unlined Hessian bags.

Body: A liquor having both fullness and strength, as opposed to being thin.

Bakey: An over-fired tea in which too much moisture has been driven off.

Bright: Denotes a lively fresh tea with good keeping quality.

Brisk: The most "live" characteristic. Results from good manufacture.

Burnt: Extreme over-firing.

Character: An attractive taste when describing better high elevation growth, and peculiar to origin.

Coloury: Indicates useful depth of colour and strength.

Coarse: Fibre content.

Common: A very plain tea, light and thin liquor with no distinct flavour.

Cream: A precipitate obtained after cooling.

Dry: Indicates slight over-firing

Dull: Not clear, and lacking any brightness or briskness.

Earthy: Normally caused by damp storage. A taste which can at times be "climatically inherent" in leaf from certain origins.

Flat: Unfresh, usually due to age.

Flavour: A most desirable extension of "character" caused by slow growth at high elevations and comparatively rare.

Full: A good combination of strength and colour.

Fruity: Can be due to over-fermentation and/or bacterial infection before firing. An over-ripe taste.

Gone Off: A flat or old tea. Often denotes a high moisture content.

Green: An immature "raw" character. Often due to under fermentation (and sometimes under-wither).

Hard: A very pungent liquor.

Harsh: A taste generally related to under-withered leaf, and very rough.

Heavy: A thick, strong and coloured liquor with limited briskness.

High-Fired: Over-fired but not baked or burnt.

Light: Lacking strength and any depth of colour.

Mature: Not bitter or flat.

Metallic: A sharp coppery flavour.

Muddy: A dull opaque liquor.

Point: A bright, acidy and penetrating characteristic.

Plain: A liquor which is "clean" but lacking in the desirable characteristics.

Pungent: Astringent with a good combination of briskness, brightness and strength. (more related to best quality Assam and Ceylon teas).

Quality: Refers to "cup quality" and denotes a combination of the most desirable liquoring properties.

Rasping: A very coarse and harsh liquor.

Raw: A bitter unpleasant liquor.

Smokey: Mainly caused by leaks around the dryer heating tubes.

Soft: The opposite of briskness and lacking any "live" characteristic caused by inefficient fermentation and/or firing.

Strength: Substance in cup

Stewed: A soft liquor with an undesirable taste caused by faulty firing at low temperatures and often insufficient air flower. Lacks point.

Taints: Characteristics or tastes which are "foreign" to tea, such as petrol, garlic, etc. Often due to being stored next to foreign commodities with strong characteristics of their own.

Thin: An insipid light liquor which lacks any desirable characteristics.

Weedy: A grass or hay taste related to under-withering. Sometimes referred to as woody.

Other Tea Terms

Agony of the Leaves: The swirling and twisting of the tea leaves when water is applied.

Black: Tea that has been highly oxidized and well roasted.

Bud: The top unopened leaf of a Camellia Sinensis bush, prized for its tenderness and sweetness; it is generally considerably paler than the leaves as it has not fully developed its potential for chlorophyll. See also Leaf Set.

Camellia Sinensis: The evergreen bush from which all true tea comes. For premium tea, only the top two leaves and the bud leaf are picked; the next two leaves, called pouching and souchong, are also used and known for more substantial, heartier flavour than the delicate top leaves. The variety of tastes depends on the altitude where it is grown, the soil, season and the processing techniques.

Chung or Chong: Cantonese for guywang (the Mandarin word for a covered cup). It is a large covered cup, used primarily as a vessel for pouring tea into small cups.

Complex: A tea with many layers of flavour.

Down: The hair-like filaments on delicate white teas and buds. Sometimes referred to as a hair.

Everyday Drink: A tea that is not very complex or expensive.

Fannings: Tiny bits of dried tea.

Fa xiao: Chinese term for oxidation.

First flush: A flush is a picking of leaves; the first flush is the first picking of the season; an expression most commonly used in India and Sri Lanka.

Gaibei: Covered cup used in Taiwan.

Green: Tea that has been oxidized for a short time and briefly fired.

Guywan or Gaiwan: The three-piece covered porcelain cup in which tea is served, invented and used primarily in China.

Infusion: An extract obtained by steeping a substance in water.

Koicha: Thick tea, usually made of matcha, which is foamed and whisked for formal Japanese tea gatherings.

Leaf Set: A trade term that refers to the top two leaves plucked from a tea bush: the pekoe and orange pekoe leaves. A leaf set with bud would include the two leaves and the unopened leaf of the bud.

Liquor: The liquid obtained by brewing tea leaves in hot water.

Long Jing: Chinese word for Dragon’s Well; also named Dragonwell tea.

Meicha: Chinese word for eyebrow teas, which are small curved-shaped teas that look like eyebrows.

Mutan or Mudan: Chinese tea leaves tied together with a silk thread or other leaves, to form the shape of a dried flower that, when infused, ‘blossoms’ to look like a peony or chrysanthemum.

Oolong: Tea that is between green and black tea in terms of amount of oxidation and roasting time.

Ordinaire: An ordinary, everyday tea.

Oxidation: Exposure of the tea leaves to air.

Pan-firing: Experts dry the leaves in pans or huge woks heated over a fired. The processors move the leaves around constantly from one side of the pan to the other, to ensure and even drying of the leaf for both appearance and flavour.

Second Flush: A flush is a picking of leaves; the second flush is the second picking of the season; an expression used primarily in Indian and Sri Lankan teas.

Self-Drinker: A tea that stands alone and needs no additions; better than an everyday tea.

Silver Down: The light-coloured, fine hairy growth on the underside of the tea leaf.

Steamed or Steam-Fired: One of several ways green tea is withered.

Sweet: Common word used to describe that taste element of some teas that is sweet, but is not to be confused with sugary sweet; it is more like the sweetness of a fresh fruit, like a peach or plum.

Tribute Teas: These extraordinary teas presented to Chinese Emperors are now considered special gifts to guests of the Chinese government.

Tetsubin: Japanese cast-iron teapot.

Tip, Tippy: The tiny budding leaf prized for freshness of flavour.

Tisane: French word for an herbal "tea", an herbal infusion.

Two Leaves and a Bud: The most prized pluck of the tea plant. See Bud or Leaf Set.

Usucha: Japanese foamy green tea, usually made of matcha, for light tea.

Yixing: An area in Northeast China, one hundred miles west of Shanghai and also the name of clays from that area. The Yixing teapot originated here.

Asian Tea Terms

Cha: The Japanese and Chinese word for tea.

Chado: Japanese word for The Way of Tea.

Chai: Indian word for tea.

Chajin: Japanese word for teamen.

Chanoyu: Japanese word that means “hot water for tea”; it is also a tea ceremony or tea cult; more than 20 schools of chanoyu exist.

Ché: Vietnamese word for tea.

Chong: See Chung.

Chun: Chinese word for spring.

Chun Hao: Chinese term for spring hair or fur.

Feng: Chinese word for point or peak (as in the peak of a mountain).

Fujian: Province in Mainland China that provides a wide range of highly aromatic teas.

Guangdong: Province in Mainland China formerly spelled Kwangtung.

Hao: Chinese word for fur, one of several descriptions for the downy hairs on leaf buds.

Hu: Chinese word for a vessel from which to pour tea; can be a pot or chong.

Jiangsu: Province in Mainland China, formerly spelled Kiangsu.

Kakemono: Japanese term for tea caddy.

Kao: A Chinese word for baking, a term sometimes used for heating the leaves.

Qiu: Chinese word for ball; used to indicate a rolled tea, such as gunpowder.

Se: Chinese word for colour, and one of the four criteria for Dragonwell tea, which should be jade green in the dry leaf.

Sichuan: Province of China, formerly spelled Szechuan.

Wei: Chinese word for taste.

Xiang: Chinese word for aroma.

Xing: Chinese word for shape.

Ye: Chinese word for leaf.

Yin: Chinese word for silver.

Yin Hao: Chinese word for silver hair or fur

Zhejiang: Province of China formerly, spelled Chekiang.