How To Taste
How to Join a Tea Tasting
- Check the Future Episodes page. Order the teas you want to taste. Take advantage of the discounts and special packages available.
- Gather the tea equipment you need. See below.
- Watch the video. Pause as necessary to savor your tea, allowing any tea-gasms to thoroughly ripple through your body and soul.
- Comment. You’ll find others discovered aspects of the tea you may not have picked up. It’s fun to read someone else’s notes, and then go back and find something you didn’t notice the first time.
- Invite others. Split costs on tea orders by tasting with friends. Help others who want to get into tea drinking. Start tea-tasting at the office.
Recommended Basic Equipment
Kettle- Any kettle will do, but I use an electric kettle for convenient access and reheating. Adagio’s has settings that keep water at different temps for different teas (e.g. green, wulong, etc.)- Water- I filter my water via a Brita or Pur type that can be found at most supermarkets. Unfiltered tap water can make your tea taste flat
- Spoon. A teaspoon. As simple or as fancy as you want to get.
- A cup. Glass is good. Porcelain does better- especially if the inside of the cup is white.
- Teapot, gaiwan (4oz), or cupping set (5oz). I vary my prep style to show different methods, but you can get similar results with whichever you choose. Adagio has a cupping set which I use more for Indian, Sri Lankan, and similar teas. Gaiwans are easy to crack/chip, so I go with a more affordable, easily replacable one.
- Glass serving pitcher. Optional, but useful if serving more than one person because it distributes the thinner and more concentrated liquor evenly. I use this one.
Things to Note During a Tasting:
Use this guide to talk about the teas and record your impressions. You could use these points to compare different kinds of teas, or compare different versions of the same kind.
Dry Leaf:
- Color- Green? Which green?
- Shape- rolled, twisted, wiry, etc.? whole or broken leaf?
- Smell- Vegetal? Which vegetable? Floral? What flower is it closest to?
Wet leaf:
- Changes in color from dry leaf
- Did the leaf open/unfurl?
- Aroma/smell- As in dry leaf (above), the more specific the better.
Liquor (proper term for the liquid):
- Aromas/tastes- Move beyond “grassy” here. You don’t want a journal of 20 different green teas, all labeled “grassy.” That doesn’t help anyone
- Color
- Texture (from watery to creamy)
- Astringency (low to high). Try a 1-5 rating system
- Aftertaste (tastes and their duration)
