How to Taste Tea Like a Sommelier: A Beginner's Guide to Developing Your Palate

Drinking tea is something you’ve been doing for years, but have you ever tasted it?

Just like a sommelier evaluating wine’s colour, aroma, body, and finish, a tea sommelier evaluates the same properties of tea. Luckily, you don’t need to spend years getting trained and certified to know how to taste tea properly. You simply need to know how to be mindful, curious, and use proper techniques.

We have created this guide on tea tasting for you so you can learn how to taste tea leaves, brew, and analyse your liquor, which includes recognizing flavors.

What Does a Tea Sommelier Actually Do?

A tea sommelier (sometimes called a tea master or tea specialist) is an educator who learns how to evaluate tea by looking at its quality, origin, process, and taste.

The role of a tea sommelier is no different from that of a wine sommelier – the former provides recommendations to restaurants and hotels about tea preparation and pairing. In addition, tea sommeliers can get professional education from organisations such as the Specialty Tea Institute and UK Tea Academy.

But the good news is that anyone can learn the basic skills and improve to recognise various tea flavour profiles.

Setting Up Your Tasting Station  What You Need

• Filtered water: The water quality used affects the result of your cup significantly.
• A kitchen scale: Using a kitchen scale to measure 3 g of tea for every 150ml is a must to ensure uniformity.
• Small spoon and 'spitting bowl': Tasters may choose to spit tea out so that their palate is not overwhelmed with the flavour of the drink.
• A notebook and pen: A tea sampler should make a note of aroma, appearance, taste, texture, and aftertaste.
• Two to three types of tea: It is advisable to compare two or three teas at a time.
  
  

The 4-Step Professional Tea Tasting Method

Step 1 : Examine the Dry Leaf

The first step involves observing the leaves. Depending on the shape, you should tell whether they are whole, tightly rolled, flat, long, or broken. You should also note the colour.

The next stage includes smelling the dry leaves. It is advisable to first warm the cup with hot water, then pour it out before putting the leaves in to facilitate the release of aromatic chemicals.

When smelling the tea, try to identify the scent. It may be grassy, smoky, floral, sweet, earthy, or spicy.

For example, Darjeeling First Flush has mild floral notes, while Pu-erh is usually fragrant with earthy, woody smells.

Step 2 : Assess the Liquor Colour and Clarity

Get the tea ready under the right conditions and observe its colour while holding the cup up to the light.

Tea colours vary depending on the kind; however, they can be pale-golden in white and green tea, copper in oolongs and Darjeeling tea, and dark amber or brown in black and Pu-erh teas.

When checking colour, it is also advisable to pay attention to clarity. A clear liquor can show that the tea has been processed correctly; however, certain teas tend to be cloudy.

It's usually true that:

• For green/white tea, the ideal temperature range is 70-80 degrees Celsius - refer to the complete tea brewing guide to understand.
• For oolong tea, the proper temperature is between 85 and 90 degrees
• For black tea or Pu-erh tea, the best brewing point is within the range of 95-100 degrees

Step 3 : The Art of the Slurp (The Most Important Step)

Professional tea tasters often practice slurping. People may find it strange, but it’s done for a reason.

Slurping tea helps to inhale it so that it spreads through the mouth and goes up to the nasal cavity. Slurping tea allows you to detect flavours more easily thanks to the multiple notes of the tea that become available while doing it.

In order to slurp tea, one needs to put a small amount of tea into the spoon, bring it to the lips and suck quickly.

One can notice the sweetness, bitterness, sourness, astringency, body and structure of the tea.

Step 4 : Evaluate the Finish

The finish means the taste and sensation of the tea one feels after swallowing it.

A short finish disappears quickly, while a long finish can stay for a long time. Here, one needs to identify whether the finish is smooth or dry, warm, sweet or astringent.

A very interesting term is Hui Gan, which means returning sweetness in tea in Chinese. It is especially widespread across certain oolongs and higher-quality teas.

Decoding the Tea Flavour Wheel : Common Tasting Notes Explained

A tea flavour wheel allows tasters to articulate the flavour of tea instead of using such ambiguous expressions as "good" and "strong". The tea flavour types can be arranged into typical categories.

Host Your Own Tea Tasting at Home

When learning how to assess tea quality, no special equipment is required. You need to get three different types of tea:

• Green tea (for instance, Sencha or Maofeng), which is light and vegetal.
• A black tea (for example, Assam or Darjeeling, which is full-bodied and malty).
• An oolong tea like Wuyi or Tieguanyin, which is complicated and multilayered.

Brew the three aforementioned teas at the proper temperatures. Taste the lightest tea first, and then the oolong tea and black tea.

Conclusion

Cleanse your taste buds by drinking plain water or eating plain crackers after each tea tasting. Write down the aroma, colour, flavour, texture, and finish of each tea in your notebook.

Comparative tasting makes it easier to see the differences between teas and develops your palate naturally.

Want to build a tasting collection? Start with the 9 best tasting teas for beginners to find teas across every flavour family  from light greens to bold blacks and complex oolongs.

Frequently Asked Questions

1: Why do tea tasters slurp?

Slurping aerates the tea and pushes the aromatic gases into the nostrils. The sensation of flavour can be increased significantly.

2: What is a tea sommelier?

A tea sommelier is a person trained and educated in famous teas, their origin, quality, processing, and taste. They can also advise on how to choose, pair and serve tea.

3: What does "astringency" mean in tea?

This dryness, called astringency in the mouth, is caused by tannins and other tannin-like substances. It also has nothing to do with taste. It is a feeling that can vary with the temperature of the tea and time of brewing.

4: How do I train my palate for tea?

Taste quality loose-leaf teas regularly. Taste a couple of teas together. Write down the things you notice in the notebook when tasting tea.