Tea Industry Terms - Glossary

Use the following alphabetical list of tea industry terms to better understand and interpret tea types, reviews and market information from growers, producers and sellers.

Assam: A black tea grown in the Northeast section of India. A strong full-bodied tea with a rich robust flavor. Considered by many tea lovers to be a wake-up tea to be consumed in the morning. Often used in blends because of its strong taste.

Aroma: An important consideration in cupping teas is the smell which is given off. A favorable aroma is most often associated with a flavorful taste.

Astringent: A tea tasting term which describes a liquor which is pungent but inclined to be acidic.

Autumnal: Describes the liquor from teas grown in Autumn, in cool weather. The term is most often applied to teas from Northern India.

Baggy: Describes an undesirable taint sometimes found in teas withered on inferior hessian or stored in sacks.

Bakey: An unpleasant characteristic noticeable in the liquors of teas which have been subjected to higher than desirable temperatures during processing.

Bancha: A Japanese tea made from coarse leaves, usually from the last plucking. This tea is generally consumed domestically.

Biscuity: A desirable trait usually referring to a well fired Assam.

Bite: A very brisk and "alive" tea liquor. A desirable trait.

Blend: A mixture of teas from several different origins to achieve a certain flavor profile. Most branded teas in the United States use 20 or more origins to achieve their desired taste.

Body: Describes a tea liquor possessing fullness and strength.

Bright: A lively tea, usually with a red liquor.

Brisk: Describes a live taste as opposed to flat or soft. Broken Orange

Pekoe: A size of tea leaf comprising the smaller leaves and tips.

Burnt: A degree worse than bakey.

Caffeine: A component of tea which stimulates the nervous system. A cup of tea averages 40 milligrams of caffeine versus approximately 110 in a cup of coffee.

Ceylon Tea: The common name of teas grown in Sri Lanka.

Ceylon Breakfast: A blend of fine teas grown on the hillsides of Sri Lanka producing a rich golden liquor with superb flavor.

Chai: A blend of black tea with various spices and steamed milk as commonly drunk in India.

Chest: Traditional way of packaging bulk teas. Usually made of wood with an aluminum lining.

Chesty: Tea which has been contaminated by improperly seasoned or inferior chest panels.

China Oolong: A select blend of large leaf teas from China.

Common: Describes the liquor of inferior tea having little character.

Chop: From the Hindi; means to stamp. A chop of tea means a certain number of chests all carrying the same brand.

Coppery: Refers to color of the tea liquor, like a new penny. A good trait resulting from good manufacturing processes.

Creaming Down: A high quality tea that turns cloudy generally believed to be caused by the precipitation of tannins.

Croppy: Describes a bright, strong creamy liquor with distinctive character. Usually found in some second flush Assams and Dooars of Orthodox manufacture.

Darjeeling: A very high quality black tea grown in the Himalayan Mountains in Northern India. Called the champagne of teas.

Dooar: Tea grown in the Dooar district located in Central India.

Dull: The tea industry's term for tea liquor that is not clear or bright.

Dust: A tea industry term which has been used to describe the smallest particles of tea leaf.

Earthy: An unfavorable characteristic generally caused by storing tea under damp conditions.

English Breakfast: Traditionally a blend of China Keemums. today the blend has evolved to include Ceylon and India teas to produce a full bodied brew.

Estate: A tea industry term used to describe a plantation or garden where tea is grown.

Fannings: A very small size of tea leaf, although larger than dust.

Fermentation: A term used to describe the processing of Oolong and Black teas. The actual chemical transformation which takes place is actually oxidation.

Fibrous: A term used to identify pieces of stem in tea.

Fine: Teas of exceptional quality and flavor.

Flavor: Very characteristic taste and aroma of fine teas, usually associated with high grown teas.

Flowery Orange Pekoe: A large leaf size containing an abundance of tip.

Flush: The new growth on a tea plant consisting of a full complement of leaves. It takes about 40 days for a new bud to blossom into a flush.

Formosa: Tea grown on the island of Taiwan.

Full: A strong tea with good color and no bitterness.

Fully-fired: Referring to a taste of the liquor equated with being slightly over fired.

Garden: Refers to a plantation or estate where tea is grown.

Golden Tip: A desirable feature resulting from good harvesting practices.

Gone off: Tea that the tea industry refers to as not good because it is old, moldy, or otherwise tainted.

Grainy: Refers to well-made fannings and dust.

Green: Describes an unpleasant astringency which may be due to inadequate withering or fermentation.

Green tea: Tea which undergoes minimal processing and most resembles the original green leaf.

Gunpowder: A type of Green tea which has been rolled into pellets.

Gyokuro: A prized Japanese Green Tea which is rich to the taste and pleasing to the eye. The tea undergoes special handling at every stage of its growth (shaded) and processing (hand-fired).

Hard: A desirable quality suggesting pungency, particularly applied to Assam teas.

Harsh: Refers to a tea that is bitter and which could result from picking (plucking) tea before it is ready.

Heavy: A tea which is not brisk and overly strong. High-fired: A tea that has remained in a dryer for a longer period than necessary, but not considered to be burnt.

Hungry: Describes the liquor of a tea which is lacking in cup quality.

Hyson, Young Hys: A Chinese Green Tea named for the East India merchant who first sold it in England. Young Hyson is generally preferred to Hyson.

I-Chiban Cha: A Japanese term referring to the first flush or first plucking of tea. It is generally a very delicate tasting tea.

Imperial Tea: A rolled Green Tea from Ceylon, China, or India made from older leaves. It has a good aroma and is refreshing.

Instant Tea: Developed in the 1930's and commercialized in the 50's, instant tea sacrifices nuances in fragrance and flavor for convenience.

Jasmine: The Chinese use Green Tea as the base to which Jasmine flowers are used to scent the tea. The finest Chinese Jasmine is called Yin Hao and Chun Hao. Formosa Jasmines use Pouchong tea as a base. Pouchong is allowed to wither for a longer period of time (than Green) before it is fired which places it between Green and Oolong.

Lapsang Soucho: A fine grade of China Black tea with a distinctive smoky flavor which results from a unique drying process. Tea drinkers either love or hate the taste of this unusual tea.

Light: Describes a liquor which is rather thin and lacking depth of color but which may be flavory or pungent or both.

Lot: Describes all of the teas offered under a single mark or serial number at any tea industry auction.

Metallic: An undesirable trait that imparts a metallic taste.

Moldy: An undesirable trait characterized by a moldy taste and odor resulting from improper storage.

Muddy: A tea industry term that describes a dull or lifeless liquor.

Muscatel: Describes a characteristic reminiscent of grapes. Also describes an exceptional characteristic found in the liquors of the finest second flush Darjeelings.

Mushy: A tea which may have been packed too moist.

Musty; Fusty: A tea liquor in which there is suspicion of mold.

New: Describes a tea that has not had adequate time to mellow.

Nose: A tea industry term used to connote a good aroma of tea.

Old: Describes liquor from tea which has lost through age those attributes which it possessed originally.

Oolong: Partially "fermented" tea which is allowed to wither, then is partially oxidized and dried. The term is of Chinese origins and means Black Dragon.

Orange Pekoe: Is used to identify a large leaf size. The tea is characterized by long, thin, wiry leaves which sometimes contain the white or yellow tip of the leaf bud.

Organoleptic: The process used by most tea industry tasters to evaluate the quality of a tea using all the senses.

Pan-fired: A Japanese tea which is steamed and then rolled in iron pans to halt further oxidation.

Pekoe: A size of tea leaf characterized by leaves which are shorter and not as wiry as Orange Pekoe. The liquors generally have more color.

Souchong: A tea which may have been packed too moist.

Pingsuey: In Chinese, the term means ice water. A Black Tea from the Hangchow district of Zhejiang Province. An excellent mild tasting tea.

Plain: Describes teas which are clean and innocuous but lacking character.

Point; pointy: A most desirable brisk pungent characteristic.

Pouchong: Some of the finest quality and high priced teas. A very fragrant tea, which is also used as a base for making Jasmine Tea.

Pungent: Describes a tea liquor having marked briskness and an astringent effect on the palate without bitterness.

Quality: Describes a preponderance of desirable attributes which are the essential characteristics of a good tea.

Rains; rainy: Describes liquor of a dull plain tea manufactured during the rainy season.

Rich: A mellow liquor which is abounding in quality and thickness.

Roughness: A tea industry term used to connote harshness.

Sappy: Describes a tea liquor which has a full juicy flavor.

Scented tea: These are teas which, after processing are put in close proximity with various flowers or spices under controlled temperature and humidity conditions for periods of about 4 hours and then refired.

Self-drinking: Describes an original tea that is palatable in itself and does not necessarily require blending before being consumed by the public.

Sencha: These are teas which Japan exports and comprise about 75% of Japan's total production.

Silver Tip Pekoe: A very costly tea from China made from full-grown buds of a special tea bush. This is also referred to as White Tea.

Silvery Oolong: Another costly tea that utilizes the delicate whitish leaf from the first flush.

Smokey: This industry term describes an odor or taste of smoke, often caused by a defect in the drier.

Soft: A tea which is under fermented or oxidized.

Sour: This tea industry term describes an undesirable acid odor and taste.

Spicy: A liquor having character, suggestive of cinnamon or cloves. This is sometimes, but not always, the effect of contamination.

Stalk: Used to describe a tea with visible stalk.

Standing up: A tea which holds its original color and flavor is described in this manner.

Stand-out: No surprises here. A tea liquor which is above average.

Stewed; stewy: Describes certain thick liquoring teas, having undesirable characteristics as a result of incorrect firing.

Strength; strong: Describes a liquor with powerful tea characteristics, but not necessarily thick. A very desirable characteristic in the tea industry, but not essential in certain flavored teas.

Sumatra: Tea grown on the island of Sumatra. Gradings and characteristics are similar to Java teas.

Tainted: An undesirable characteristic with a taste and odor foreign to the tea.

Tannin: The chemical component of tea thought to be responsible for its presumed health benefits. One of the major components that contributes to the taste and pungency of tea.

Tarry: A tea which has a smokey aroma.

Tea: The leaf and extracted liquor of the shrub Camellia sinensis. No other beverages merit the unqualified term tea.

Tea Taster: An expert tea industry judge of the beverage. A person who uses organoleptic means to discern various characteristics and qualities of tea. Tip: The leaf bud of the Camellia sinensis plant.

Thick: Describes tea liquor having substance, but not necessarily strength.

Thin; weak: Tea liquor which lacks thickness or strength.

Tisane: A tea industry term which describes an herbal infusion.

Toasty: A tea which has been slightly over-fired during processing. It may be a desirable characteristic in some Darjeeling teas.

Weathery: Describes a soft, unpleasant characteristic, which is occasionally evident in the liquors of teas processed during very wet weather.

Weak: Teas that have a thin liquor.

Well twisted: A tea leaf that is tightly rolled or twisted, indicative of good withering.

Wiry: Another tea industry term that means well twisted.

Woody: A characteristic reminiscent of freshly-cut timber. This trait is usually associated with teas processed very late in the season.

Source: These tea industry terms are from the Tea Association of the USA, Inc. Visit the association's website at teausa.org.

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