Tasters and blenders have a vocabulary of some hundred words to describe appearance and flavor. The most common are: body a tea with body has a strong liquor not a thin, weak one bold big pieces of leaf brassy refers to a liquor with a bitter taste bright a bright liquor; not dull in appearance brisk a lively taste, a well-fermented, well-fired tea choppy leaf that has been chopped in a breaker or cutter rather than rolled coarse a liquor that has strength but poor quality colory special category teas with good colored liquor dull the opposite of bright, and not a desirable quality even leaf pieces of roughly the same size flaky leaf that is in flakes rather than twisted pieces flat a tea that has gone off, has too much moisture flavory with a distinctive taste grainy denotes well-made fannings or dusts gray gray-colored leaf resulting from over-cutting or because the desirable coating of juices on the leaf has been rubbed off due to over-handling during the sifting stage | greenish an infusion with a bright green color; not desirable, due to under-rolling or under-fermentation harsh a bitter, raw taste with little strength irregular uneven-size pieces of leaf malty with a hint of malt, found in well-made teas mellow the opposite of greenish, harsh, etc. point leaf with desirable briskness plain lacking in desirable qualities pungent astringent without being bitter ragged uneven and irregular pieces of leaf smooth with a pleasant, rounded taste tainted unpleasant flavor caused by chemicals used in cultivation, or by damp conditions, or by pollution during transportation, etc. thin a tea with little strength due to hard withering, under-rolling, or too high a temperature during rolling tip the very end of the delicate young buds that give golden flecks to the processed leaf wiry well-twisted leaf, as opposed to open pieces |
