Say It Right, Sip It Better: The Language of Tea
Why Tea Terms Matter
Tea is all about science at its core. The stuff inside the leaves—like catechins, amino acids, and polyphenols—creates the flavors we taste. These aren’t random; they’re the real foundation of how tea tastes and smells.
That’s where tea terms come in. They help us describe what we’re experiencing, whether it’s the sweetness, astringency, or a floral aroma. Without these words, it’s harder to talk about tea or really understand what makes one tea different from another.
Learning tea terminology isn’t just about sounding fancy—it’s about understanding tea better and sharing that with others. Whether you’re tasting, trading, or just enjoying tea, knowing the right words makes the whole experience richer and more fun.
Glossary of Tea Terms
Acidic: A sour and tart taste.
Aftertaste: A term for the flavor and aroma left in the mouth after the tea has been swallowed. When the aftertaste is attractive, it could be the reason why you prefer one tea to a similar tea with no particular aftertaste.
Aggressive: The opposite of soft and smooth.
Amino acid: Simple organic compound containing both carboxyl and amino group and combine to form proteins. The perceived taste of amino acids can range from sour or umami to sweet and bitter and some of them also taste mildly sweet. The peculiar and most important amino acid in tea is theanine.
Apricot: A pale orange color. This term if often applied to color of white tea liquid.
Aroma: The odor of the tea.
Aspect: the topography of a tea garden, including its altitude, the direction in which the tea trees face, and the angle of any slope.
Astringent: A bold, pungent sensation due to the tannins in the tea that linger on the tongue.
Autumnal: The liquor from teas grown in cool Autumn weather.
Baggy: An undesirable taint sometimes found in inferior teas which have been stored in sacks.
Balance: Refers to the harmonious relationship between acids, polyphenols, amino acids, and other natural elements in tea liquor.
Bakey: An unpleasant characteristic noticeable in the liquors of teas which were heated to higher temperatures than mandated during processing.
Bent: The appearance of tea is curved and not straight or flat.
Blend: A mixture of two or more teas from different origins to achieve a certain type of flavor which is unique.
Blind tasting: A tea tasting at which the identity of the teas is unknown to the taster until after he or she has made notes and given scores.
Blister: A swelling on the surface of tea leaf, caused usually by high temperature.
Bloom: Dry tea surface is sheen and looks like a film of varnish. It’s a character of fine tea.
Body: The tactile aspect of tea’s weight, and also refers the tea liquor with the impression of weight in the mouth.
Brassy: with a bitter taste.
Bright: A style and refreshing flavor of tea for the palate.
with a good pronounced color, usually orange or coppery.
Brisk: refreshing, lively.
Burnt: An undesirable trait, which is a degree worse than ‘bakey’.
Chun-mee: A grade of Chinese tea with a naturally curling shape.
Clean: A pure, neutral aroma or flavor.
Coarse: With a harsh and vegetable flavor.
Complexity: A word that refers to many different nuances of smell and taste.
Compressed tea: A traditional way of storing and transporting tea in China in the form of bricks or cakes.
Congou: The name come from Chinese word ‘Gongfu’, which is a Chinese character convey the meaning of requiring time and patience. Congou tea is made with oolong tea in a small Yixing teapot or Gaiwan and served in very small cups.
Coppery: A favorable attribute of tea liquor color, similar to a new penny.
Cream down: The milky deposit which forms in an infusion of black tea in cooling due to interaction between caffeine and polyphenols.
Crisp: A clean tea liquor, with good acidity showing on the finish, yielding a refreshing, clean taste.
Dirty: This applies to any tea with an unpleasant off-taste or off-smell, and is probably the result of poor manufacture or bad storing.
Dull: an infusion which lacks clearness, brightness, or vividness.
Earthy: With an unpleasant taste (usually caused by storing tea in damp conditions).
Enzyme: A protein produced by living organisms that functions as a biochemical catalyst.
Esters: Sweet-smelling compounds, formed during fermentation and throughout maturation, that contribute to a tea’s aroma.
Even: Refers to the shapes are quite same no matter big or small, long or short, heavy or light.
Fish leaves: The first two leaves formed on a shoot as it grows from a bud. The first, or small, fish leaf, or janam, is a small scale leaf. The second, or large, fish leaf is larger, but often smaller than later leaves and is smooth rather than serrated on its upper edges.
Finish: The final taste that lingers on tongue after consuming the tea.
Flaky: Badly manufactured, proceeding flat or badly rolled leaves.
Flowery: A floral flavor which is mostly associated with high quality.
Flush: The word used to describe the state of the crop when there is a large number of visible, actively growing tea shoots per unit area of the bush surface.
Fragrance of vegetables: Like the fragrance that released after cabbage is boiled, it is used to commenting green tea aroma.
Fried rice fragrance: Like the fragrance of pop corn which is the fragrance of tea is gently baked or fried.
Full: This term usually refers to body, as in “full-bodied”. However, tea can be light in body yet full in flavor.
Gua Pian: A famous green tea grown in Anhui Province. Unlike other green teas, Lu An Gua Pian is made from one solitary leaf. Gua Pian is also written as Melon Seeds, which is a transliteration from the Chinese due to the leaf having the appearance of the seeds of many cucumber family, which are auspicious in China.
Golden: A term used to describe tea containing light tips.
Gōngfū: the art of doing things with diligence.
Gun-power: A type of Chinese tea having the appearance of small pellets. When the British first arrived in China and were shown the tea they called it gun-powder on account of its resemblance to the gunpowder pellets used for cannons. This tea is called Zhucha in China.
Honeyed: Many white tea develop a honeyed character through storing, particular compressed Gongmei and Shoumei.
Hybrid: A cross between two or more tea varieties from more than one species.
Heaviness: Refers to the teas are tight and heavy while measured by hands.
Light: Pale but with a good aroma and fresh flavor
Malty: The tea with a hint of malt taste.
Maillard Reaction: This is an organic react with amino acids to form a complex mixture of compounds. This reaction is responsible for the characteristic flavor and aroma of drying and baking in tea processing.
Mellow: Describes a tea liquid that is round, rich, and full but free from garishness or stridency.
Mother bush: A bush selected for its desirable characteristics which has been multiplied by vegetative propagation or tissue culture.
Plain: Lacking character, without freshness or aroma.
Raw: with a bitter flavor.
Rich: well balanced and of high quality.
Roller: The traditional machine consists of a hopper containing leaf under pressure which moves over a ridged table. Tea produced by these machines is known as ‘orthodox’.
Round: full flavored.
Scented: Teas which are infused with aroma and taste of various flowers or spices under controlled conditions.
Smooth: A fine tea with a pleasant, well-rounded taste.
Sorting (selecting): The physical separation of manufactured tea from the drier exit into the various size grade and the removal of unwanted material, particularly stems and fibre.
Sow-mee: A grade of Chinese tea having a fine curling shape like a young girl eyebrows, and manufactured from small leaves and a bud.
Straight: The appearance of tea extending uniformly in one direction without a curve or bend.
Strong: The taste or smell is very noticeable or powerful.
Structure: The structure of tea is literally composed of its solids (polyphenols, acidity, sugar, and other flavor) in balance, and how positively they form and feel in the mouth.
Sturdy: The term of sturdy suggests tea is physically strong and solid or thick.
Suspension: A tea liquid in which small pieces of solid are contained, but not dissolved.
Sweaty: with a undesirable sour flavor.
Tea cream: The milky deposit which forms in an infusion of black tea on cooling due to interaction between caffeine and theaflavins.
Terroir: This literally means “soil”, but in a tea plant cultivation sense terroir refers in a more general way to a tea plantation’s whole growing environment, which also includes altitude, aspect, climate, and any other significant factors that may affect the life of a tea plant, and thereby the quality of tea tea shoots it produced.
Thin: A term used to describe a tea that is lacking in body and other properties.
Tightly: The appearance of tea is curled and firmed.
Tippy: the tea includes a greater portion of tips (buds). Tippy teas tent to have a more delicate flavor and aroma, and be more expensive. The opposite of tippy teas are teas made from a greater portion of large and mature leaves.
Tired: old and badly packed or stored.
Umami: The fifth basic taste (after sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness) is a satisfying taste of completeness prompted by the amino acid glutamate, hence the use of monosodium glutamate as a taste enhancer in Chinese cuisine.
Watery: This term often refers to tea liquor is extreme qualification of thin.
Withering: The first stage in black tea and white tea manufacture. The harvested leaves are partly dried and the degree of drying depends on the manufacturing process. Important chemical changes occur during this period, which can last 8 to 20 hours.
Wiry: This term applies to a fine tea with a thin but strong appearance.
Woody: The flavor of tea, reminiscent of freshly cut timber.
Yu-ye: This kind of leaf means while the winter buds are at the beginning of sprouting but have not been come out in spring, the shape of this leaf just like fish.
Zhu-cha: The Chinese name for Gun-power tea, which is a kind of green tea.