TERMS DESCRIBING DRY LEAF |
ACCEPTABLE |
A tea which in spite of a fault can be taken by the market. |
ATTRACTIVE |
Well made uniform in colour and size |
BLACK |
A Black appearance is desirable, preferably with “Bloom”. |
BLOOM |
A sign of good manufacture and sorting. A “sheen” which has not been removed by over-handling or over-sorting. |
BOLD |
Particles of leaf which are too large for a grade. |
BROWN |
A Brown appearance which is undesirable. |
CHESTY |
Taint caused by unseasoned chest panels. |
CHUNKY |
A very large Broken from Orthodox manufacture. |
CLEAN |
Free of Stalk/Fibre/Dust. |
EVEN |
Grade consisting of roughly equal size particles. |
FLAKY |
Flat open and often light in texture. |
FIBRE |
Shreds of stalk in dry leaf-indicating bad particles. |
GRAINY |
Well made leaf. Grainy teas are desirable for the international market. |
GREY |
Most undesirable colour of dry-leaf caused by faulty handling over sorting. |
IRREGULAR |
Uneven pieces of leaf in whole-leaf grades resulting from inadequate sorting. |
LARGE |
Describing size of a grade, implying it is too large for market requirement. |
LEAFY |
Orthodox manufacture leaf tending to be on the large or long side. |
LIGHT |
A tea light in weight and of poor density, sometimes flaky. |
MAKE |
Well made 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 |
Well made teas of even appearance. |
NOSE |
Smell of dry leaf. |
OPEN |
Opposed to twisted-unrolled. |
POWDERY |
Fine light Dust. |
RAGGED |
Rough and uneven leaf. |
SHOTTY |
Well made and rolled particularly Orthodox Pekoes. |
TIP |
A sign of fine plucking and apparent in the top grades of Orthodox manufacture. |
TWIST |
Well rolled, particular reference to whole leaf. |
UNEVEN & MIXED |
“Uneven” pieces of leaf usually indicative of poor sorting and not true to the particular grade. |
WELL MADE |
Uniform in color, size and texture. |
WIRY |
Leaf appearance of a well twisted, thin leaf Orthodox tea. |
TERMS DESCRIBING INFUSED LEAF |
BRIGHT |
A lively bright appearance. Usually indicates bright liquors. |
COPPERY |
Color of infused leaf, which indicates a well-manufactured tea. |
DULL |
Lacks brightness, usually denotes a poor tea. |
GREEN |
Caused by under-fermentation, or characteristic of leaf from immature bushes. |
MIXED/UNEVEN |
Infused leaf which has more than one colour. |
TERMS DESCRIBING LIQUOR |
AUTUMNAL |
A seasonal term applied to teas grown during the period, possessing varying degrees of flavor. |
BAKEY |
Unpleasant taste usually caused by too high temperatures driving of too much moisture during firing. |
BODY |
A liquor possessing fullness and strength. |
BRIGHT |
Denotes a lively fresh tea with good keeping quality. |
BRISK |
A lively taste in the liquor, as opposed to flat or soft. |
BURNT |
Tea that has been subjected to extremely high temperatures during firing, undesirable. |
CHARACTER |
An attractive taste when describing better high elevation growth and peculiar to origin. |
COLOUR |
Indicates useful depth of colour and strength. |
CONTAMINATION |
Taint. A taste foreign to tea caused by contact or proximity to an odorous substance eg.oil, spices, insecticides, weedicides etc. |
CREAMY |
A precipitate obtained after cooling. |
DRY |
Indicates slight over-firing. |
DULL |
Not clear, and lacking any brightness or briskness. |
FLAT |
Unfresh. (usually due to age). |
FRUITY |
Can be due to over-fermentation and/or bacterial infection before firing. An over-ripe taste. |
FULL |
A good combination of strength and colour. |
FULLY-FIRED |
Slightly over-fired. The term cautions for ensuring that future manufacture does not become high-fired. |
GREEN |
An immature “raw” character. Often due to under-fermentation (and sometimes under-wither). |
HARSH |
A taste generally related to under-withered leaf, and very rough. |
HEAVY |
A thick, strong and colour liquor with limited briskness. |
HIGH-FIRED |
Over-fired but not bakey (or burnt). |
LIGHT |
Lacking strength and any depth of colour. |
MUDDY |
A dull opaque liquor |
MUSTY |
Suspicion of mould. |
OLD |
Having lost most original attributes through age |
PLAIN |
A liquor which is “clean” but lacking in the desirable characteristics. |
POINT |
A bright, acidy and penetrating characteristic of their own. |
PUNGENT |
Astringent with a good combination of briskness brightness and strength. |
QUALITY |
Essential characteristics of a good tea. |
SMOKY |
Mainly caused by leaks around the dryer heating tubes. |
SOFT |
Liquor character reverse of brisk: lacking life. |
STRENGTH |
Substance in cup. |
STEWY |
Caused by slow firing where fermentation has been allowed to carry on too long. |
TAINTS |
Characteristic or tastes which are “foreign” of tea. Such as petrol, garlic etc. Often due to being stored next to foreign commodities with strong characteristics, of their own. |
WEEDY |
A grass or hay taste related to under-withering. Sometimes referred to as woody. |
