research

Properties of Aged Wulong

July 20, 2014 by Jason

Suppose a tea vendor or processor somewhere in China or Taiwan is going through his storage room and finds a container of tea that has been sitting there for more years than he can remember. Knowing that tea cost him something, and looking to recover that cost, he comes up with an idea: “I’ll call it aged tea, and sell it for a higher price!”

Many people, even tea professionals have no clear understanding of what happens when teas like wulongs are aged. Some believe aged wulongs are a gimmick. Others are convinced time is solely responsible for the changes in oolongs. Others would say it is a matter of relative exposure (or lack of expose) to air, humidity, or roasting.

But there is actual lab research that can shed light on how aged tea changes, and how those changes can create a superior aged wulong.

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Talking Green Tea – A Green Tea Flavor Lexicon

May 18, 2014 by Jason

What would happen if you gathered a group of experts in the field of food tasting and asked them to come up with a set of characteristics to describe the range of tastes found in green tea?

Someone did just that. One of the gleanings from that study – if you’re not sure what to say about a tea, your safest bet is to say it has asparagus notes.
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Tea Steeping Factors – Altitude, Temps and Times

April 13, 2014 by Jason

A traditional teabag is designed to remove the magic of making tea. Blenders work to mix the right ratio of leaves so that the taste profile is the same in every bag, year after year. Once you know what you brew from this bag, you can use the same parameters and get the same results. The magic that comes with unique leaves from distinct locations is gone.

That is not to say that a well-steeped cup of quality tea is dependent upon the work of the tea fairy. Science has shown that key components in tea can be released depending on our steeping behaviors. We also know more about how location can affect the components in tea leaves.
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Optimal Water For Tea

October 4, 2013 by Jason

Many of us have probably heard the old saw in one form or another – water is the mother of tea. It is possible this version of the saying could extend to include the moisture the tea plant receives when growing tea leaves, but most of the time people are talking about the +90% of the liquid content in a cup of tea.

If water is the prime ingredient in a cup of tea, the supposition is that good water is needed to make good tea.

So I began to dig to find the best info on what makes for good water.

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The Science and Benefits of Cold-Infusing

July 25, 2013 by Jason

Cold-brewing, cold-infusing, cold-steeping. Whatever name is applied, the process has often been perceived as secondary to the traditional use of hot water and tea leaves.

The science says otherwise. Cold-brewing may produce a better tasting and a more beneficial beverage than regular hot-water brewing. But what are the benefits? What kinds of teas produce these benefits, and how should cold-brewing be done?

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Flavor: Better Than Taste Or Smell

May 17, 2013 by Jason

As I continue to learn about tea, I also try to keep up with how teas are described, marketed, and presented. One of the most important elements in talking about teas is TASTE.

But what is taste? How does one experience taste? On one level, taste refers to the naming of the chemical components in tea. You may identify a taste as chestnut while I identify it as cashew. On this level, it may be harder to say that one name or association is better right or wrong.

The mechanics of tasting can be critical to a complete tasting experience. After all, if the chemical components don’t get to the receptors and the sensory information is not received and processed, there is no taste experience. I recently wrote about potential flaws in the slurping procedure many professional tea tasters employ.

I hope to continue to share information on how we can understand, and thereby improve our tasting experiences of tea….

Tea Flavor Wheel: More Helpful or Harmful?

January 31, 2013 by Jason

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One of my side projects occurs at the crossroads of tea appreciation, taste, and education.

Wine aroma wheels have existed for decades now. They have been hailed and hissed at since they were created. There is always some flaw – they are incomplete or too complex. They remove the critical reflection needed to develop taste, and allow you to essentially throw your finger onto the dartboard.

Does tea need a standardized aroma/flavor wheel to help tasters learn?

Part of me says: “Yes.” I tire of seeing/hearing so many green teas being reduced to a single descriptor like “grassy” or “vegetal”.

When a flavor wheel is employed, it is better if those flavors/aromas are a minimal combination of descriptors used in research and those generally accepted by the industry. Color associations can also be helpful triggers.

But flavor/aroma are often not the most important qualities of a fine tea. So many Japanese and Chinese teacups are mere thimbles because tea wasn’t about gulping down flavor. They were about texture and aftertaste. A monk could take a mere sip of tea and savor the feel on his tongue, the residing sweetness in the throat for minutes if not hours.

So appreciating tea flavor/aroma must be put into the tea’s fuller context. Intensity, duration, texture – these must be explored as well. Admittedly “aftertaste” implies flavor, but it is as much about what happens in your throat and mouth after swallowing the tea. It is the impression the tea leaves upon you, and how you respond to that impression.

So tea tasting and education should also guide learners in the art of appreciating/being aware of a tea’s aftertaste.

What kind of tea flavor/aroma wheel would you like to see used?

How should taste, texture, aftertaste, etc. fit into the overall development of personal tea appreciation skills?

Compare teas with others on the Scoresheet.
Walker Tea Review- a tea blog with tea reviews and tea tastings.
Want to see a tea reviewed? Contact me: jason@walkerteareview.com

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