tea tasting terms

[lahikmajoe]

What terminology do you use to describe tea?

I’m sure it’s very personalised the majority of the time, but have you ever looked at industry language? How professional tea tasters describe tea and the words they use to do so?

I’m sure just bringing up this topic is opening a can of worms, but I’ve been thinking about tea reviews lately and the terms I read in them that I’d rarely use.

[Robert Godden]

This was the very discussion on the tea salon a few days ago.
There is an ISO document that sets out the terms you “should” use. The general consensus was that at over $100 for 4-6 pages, the ISO could stick it, and just make up your own.

[Xavier]

said:
As I tasted it, I felt as if I was hiking the woods on a dewy spring morning.

I think @lahikmajoe and I tasted something quite similar in Munich (even if I couldn’t find this taste in my cup).

[Anonymous]

I was introduced to some of the industry language through Jane Pettigrew’s books and when I took the Level 1 and Level 2 STI courses. I have a list of some on my (very old, outdated, almost embarrassingly neglected) website: http://www.teapages.net/tasting-terms

I use the ones that are useful, but to be honest, if it’s a definition I have to look up then I figure that my readers won’t know it either.

[Author]

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