Tea Glossary

Bergamot: The essential oil of the bergamot orange, used to flavor a black tea that is then called Earl Grey tea.

Billy: The Australian term for a tin pot with a wire handle, suspended over an open fire to boil tea.

Biscuity: A pleasant characteristic often associated with Assam teas.

Bitter: An unpleasant taste associated with raw teas or over-steeped teas.

Black Tea: Black tea is fermented green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation. Black tea is the most common form of tea drunk worldwide. Black tea is fully oxidized and roasted (oolong is half-oxidized): green tea leaves are allowed to oxidize, or ferment, for two to four hours, to a black color. After plucking and gathering, the leaves are spread out in the air, and then hand-tossed until they become soft and flaccid, when they are roasted for a few minutes, and rolled. They are then exposed to the air for a few hours in a soft and moist state, finally withered or dried slowly over a low heat charcoal fire. Then it is fired at a higher temperature to fix the flavor of the tea before being sorted into different leaf quality and sizes. The operation of roasting and rolling is sometimes repeated several times, until the leaves have become the proper color.

When brewed, it forms a reddish or reddish-brown liquor or color, has a maltose flavor and a rich flowery aroma. The principal grades of black tea are Bohea (the poorest quality); Congou; Oolong; Souchong, one of the finest varieties; and Pekoe, a fine-flavored kind, made chiefly from young spring buds. Styles of black tea, based on provenance and/or blend, include: Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, English Breakfast, Golden Needle, Irish Breakfast, Keemun, Lapsang Souchong, Keemun, and Yunnan.

Black tea contains the most caffeine of all teas (due to the extended firing process), but much less than coffee: about 40 mg per cup, depending on strength and steeping time. Coffee, by comparison, has 80 to 100 mg per cup. The water-extractable polyphenol content of black tea ranges from 3% to 10%; green tea has between 30% and 40%.

Blend: Many teas—e.g. English Breakfast and Earl Grey—are not a single variety but are blends of different teas. Blends are created by a tea taster who decides what proportions of each different tea leaf are required to produce the flavor of the blend. In addition to creating distinctive flavors, blending is used to create consistency in taste from one growing season to the next.

Body: The strength of the liquor combined with its viscosity (weight on the tongue). Body may be full, light, et al. A tea with good body has both fullness and strength, as opposed to being thin and weak.

Bohea: Tea from the Wu-i Hills in Fukien, China. Originally, the term was applied both to black China tea and to tea from Indonesia. In the 18th century, Bohea, or Bo-hee, was the generic name given to the tea drink.

Bouquet: All of the characteristics of smell that are perceived through the nose when one sniffs the teas.

Bubble Tea: (photo at left) A sweet, cold, black or green tea drink created in Taiwan in the 1980s made in a myriad of flavors with large chewy balls or “pearls” of tapioca (the “bubbles” at the bottom of the cup, which come in gray-black or beige-white). The teas are offered in a milky version, made of tea, milk and a flavored powder, poured into a glass with ice and tapioca balls; and a “freeze” made with tea, fresh fruit, simple syrup, ice and tapioca balls.

Brassy: Unpleasant metallic tang or acidic bite from improperly withered tea.

Brew: One of several terms, also including infusion and liquor, that refer to the brewed tea.

Brisk: Lively, not flat: a tea high in astringency. The term as been trademarked by Lipton.

Broker: A tea taster who negotiates the selling of tea from producers, or the buying of tea for packers and dealers, for a brokerage fee.

Butter Tea: A beverage first served in Tibet, then in India, where boiled tea is mixed with salt and soda. It is then strained into an urn containing butter and dried ground cereal (often barley), churned, and served in a basin. Often a lump of butter is added when serving.

Cachar: The most common variety of India tea, from the Cachar district of Assam.

Caddy, or Tea Caddy: The term for a tin or jar of tea, which takes its name from the Chinese or Malayan word “catty,” a term used to describe the weight of one pound of tea. In the past, tea caddies were equipped with a lock and key. Today, the name is used to describe ceramic dishes that hold the used tea bag before it is disposed of.

Caffeine: A stimulating compound present in tea. Black tea has the highest amount of caffeine, with diminishing amounts found in oolong, green and white teas, respectively. Black tea contains about 40 mg. per cup, depending on strength and steeping time; green tea has approximately 20 mg. per cup. Coffee, by comparison, has 80 to 100 mg. per cup.

Cambric Tea: A very weak tea infusion with a high percentage of milk and sugar, often given to children and invalids.

Camellia assamica: There exist two types of tea plants from which all tea plants derive. The names of these plants reflect their origins: Camellia sinensis (or chinensis, meaning Chinese in origin) and Camellia assamica, meaning Assam in origin, or indigenous to the Assam area of India. Assamica is an offshoot of Sinensis, transported to India where the extremely hot climate—temperatures to 114°F compared to the cool mountain mists of China and Japan—caused the shrub to evolve into a tree that grows up to 30 to 40 feet high unpruned. However, it is kept pruned at three feet to five feet for convenient plucking of the tender leaves.

Genmaicha: Green tea mixed with toasted rice.

Golden: Denoting the orange-colored tip present in high quality black tea leaves.

Gone Off: Tea that’s been spoiled by improper storage or packing, or is simply past its prime and stale.

Gongfu or Gong Fu: Meaning “performed with care,” this is a style of brewing with many repeated short infusions of leaf in a miniature pot.

Green Tea: Green tea is non-oxidized (un-fermented) tea: in preparation, the goal is to avoid any fermentation. It goes through three processes: roasting, rolling and firing. Almost immediately after being picked, the leaves for green tea are heated or roasted to kill the enzymes that cause fermentation. They are heated to 100°C (Chinese) or steam-cooked (Japanese) for 30 seconds to 5 minutes in large, shallow pans over a wood fire. This makes them soft and pliant. They are then hand-rolled or folded on a table into balls, sticks or coils. This process removes moisture. They are then dried on racks with circulating hot air for two or three minutes.

Hyson: A brand of China green tea commonly drunk in Europe in the 18th century, and often the used generically to refer to the tea beverage, as Sanka and Kleenex are used to describe decaffeinated coffee and facial tissues. Young Hyson is a type of green tea which is plucked early.

Iced Tea: Brewed tea chilled with ice. Iced tea originated in 1904 at the World’s Fair in St. Louis. A visiting English tea merchant and plantation owner had intended to provide visitors with free hot tea samples. Due to the unusually hot weather, it was not of interest to most people.

Jasmine Tea: One of the best-known Chinese teas, a black, green or oolong tea scented with jasmine flowers, typically made with a base of green pouchong tea. It comes from Fu Zhou in Fujian Province, where it is scented five times between April and June with fresh jasmine blossoms—a fashion developed during the Ming Dynasty. This method instills the green leaves with attar of jasmine. Jasmine flowers are picked early in the day and mixed in with the tea at night, when they open and release their scent. The scent is infused into the leaves, which are steamed in order to hold scent well. Afterwards, the tea is crafted in many different shapes.

Matcha: Powdered green tea the consistency of talc that is used in the Japanese tea ceremony. Matcha has a wonderful aroma, silky froth, and rich mellow taste, and also is used as a food seasoning (in the absence of green tea ice cream, sprinkle some matcha on vanilla). Matcha comes from gyokuro leaves that have been steamed and dried. The tea bushes are shaded from sunlight for three weeks before harvesting, producing amino acids that sweeten the taste. The leaves are then ground like flour. The powder is whisked into water. Powdered tea is the original way in which tea was prepared: steeping dried leaves in boiling water didn’t arrive until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Mature: Not bitter or flat.

Meat Tea: Another term for high tea.

Mecha: A byproduct of sencha, made during the sifting process in the production of sencha. It contains coarse, broken tea leaves and incipient baby tea buds that are quality but too small to stay inside the sieve.

Metallic: A sharp, coppery taste.

Muddy: A dull, opaque liquor.

Muscate: A grapey taste, characteristic of Darjeeling teas.

Mushy: A result of being packed or stored with a high moisture content.

Musty: A scent that indicates the possibility of mold.

Nose: The aroma of the infusion.

Oolong: A semi-fermented or semi-oxidized (semi-green) tea that falls between green and black tea on the fermentation continuum (green tea does not ferment at all, black tea ferments for two to four hours). The fermentation process is interrupted in the middle. Produced in the Fujian province of China and in Taiwan, oolong is characterized by lighter brews and larger leaf styles. Its color is golden to dark brown and its taste and aroma range from fruity to floral. Examples include Pouchong, Qing Tea, Red Hood, Ti Kwan Yin, Wuyi, and generic oolong. Oolongs are traditionally fired into hot woks and cooked very quickly, which stops the fermentation process. The following information is provided by PalaisDesThes.com:

Oolongs are divided into two categories: lightly fermented (10% to 15% fermentation) prepared in the so-called Chinese way; and others where the fermentation process is much more important (60% to 70% fermentation) in which the teas are processed according to a method more specifically developed in Taiwan. In practice, the preparation of semi-fermented teas is less clear-cut than this: each plantation has its own recipes and produces teas with different degrees of fermentation. Rather than adhere to the traditional divisions of Chinese versus Taiwanese methods, all semi-fermented teas have to go through the following procedures:

• Withering: The leaves are left to wither in the sun for a few hours. They are placed into baskets and shaken, which bruises the leaves and exposes the juices in the leaves to the air, which begins the process of oxidation (fermentation). They are then put in the shade to cool.
• Sweating: The most important stage in the preparation of oolong teas. The leaves are placed in a room that is kept at a constant temperature of between 22°C and 25°C with a humidity level of roughly 85%, in which they are continually stirred with ever-increasing force. This allows the aroma to be released and facilitates the evaporation of water. The final degree of sweating depends on the duration of this process: in the so-called Chinese method the fermentation is halted as soon as the leaves have reached a 10% to 12% degree of fermentation and this produces light teas with a leafy flavor. The so-called Taiwanese method involves a longer period of sweating allowing fermentation to progress to a level of up to 70% and producing darker, fruitier teas.
• Roasting: Once the desired degree of fermentation is reached, roasting allows the tea enzymes’ reaction to be halted. This procedure is identical to the one used to produce green teas.
• Rolling: As with green teas, the rolling process gives the leaves their twisted shape. The leaves are often very large and are just creased or sometimes rolled into large pearls.

Orange Pekoe: Pronounced peck-oh, it is the second highest grade in a seven-tier grading system for black tea. It describes the size and physical condition of the leaf, not a particular kind of tea, quality, or flavor. (Most teas labeled Orange Pekoe are blends.) Pekoe is derived from the Chinese word for white, which referred to the white hair on the leaf bud. Early Western merchants used the word to mean that the leaves so graded were exclusively plucked from the tip of the branch: the leaf bud and the two leaves below the bud. Its use in India and Sri Lanka broadened to mean whole leaves of a uniform size, and this is what it generally means now. It may include leaves picked from lower on the branch. (See Flowery Orange Pekoe.) Orange is variously described as a reference to the Dutch House of Orange or a reference to an old Chinese practice of including orange blossoms as a flavoring agent.

Orthodox: Prepared using a technique which leads to larger leaf styles, mirroring hand-produced teas.

Oxidation: A process that converts the plucked tea leaf to oolong or black tea. Green tea is barely oxidized. See Fermentation.

Pan-Fried: A Japan method where the tea is steamed then rolled in iron pans or woks over charcoal fires.

Peak: The high point of the black tea tasting experience when, some moments after the liquor enters the mouth, its body, flavor, and astringency are fully revealed. Greens and oolongs do not peak but present themselves immediately.

Pekoe: A small bud grows at the tip of each stem of the tea plant, curled over on itself, forming what the Chinese call pak-ho or pekoe. During the imperial harvest, only this bud and the leaf next to it are plucked. The quality of the harvest is determined by the number of leaves next to the pekoe that are plucked. The more leaves in the mix, the lower the quality of the harvest.

Plain: A liquor that is clean but dull, lacking in desirable characteristics.

Plantation. See Estate.

Plucking: The process of harvesting the tea by cutting the flush from the growing tea shrub.

Point: A bright and penetrating characteristic. A liquor is said to have point if it shows some desirable property—for example, briskness or fine fragrance.

Polyphenols: The compounds present in tea that provide the astringency and pungent taste of tea, and also the antioxidant value. The water-extractable polyphenol content of green tea ranges from 30% to 40%; black tea has between 3% and 10%.

Pouchong: A kind of scented Chinese or Taiwan tea, so-called from the Cantonese method of packing tea in small paper packets, each of which was supposed to be the product of one choice of tea plant.

Powdery: Fine light dust, meaning a very fine light leaf particle.

Pu-Erh or Pu-er or Pu’Erh or Dark Tea: A special category of tea from Yunnan province, China and considered a medicinal tea in China. With long-term use, it is said to reduce cholesterol, hangovers, and to improve dental hygiene. It also is the basis for “Slimming Tea” and “Beauty Tea.” The tea is usually compressed into shapes such as bricks, discs, birds’ nests or spinning tops. While most teas are consumed within a year of production, pu-erh can be kept for years for the aging process. Pu-er improves with age, owing to the specific type of oxidation that affects the tannins. The tea is often steeped for long periods of time or even boiled (Tibetans boil it overnight). The flavors and aromas are earthy and smooth. Pu-erh teas are available in black, brick green, oolong, and white. Pu-er is produced in a steaming process that creates a non-enzymatic fermentation, different from the fermentation of black teas. Before rolling, the leaves undergo a specific type of roasting in iron pans, which kills most of their enzymes. The pans are heated to 280°C to 320°C, the leaves are added and then covered with straw. The straw stops the steam from escaping and allows the leaves to be steam-cooked. A first rolling is carried out, then a sweating that lasts about 24 hours and can be repeated several times to enhance the aroma. Pu-erh tea is one of the costliest teas.

Pungent: Astringent with a good combination of briskness, brightness and strength.

Quality: Refers to “'cup quality” and denotes a combination of the most desirable liquor qualities.

Rich: Coffee with depth and complexity of flavor, full body, and an overall satisfying taste.

Ragged: An uneven badly manufactured and graded tea.

Rasping: A very coarse and harsh liquor.

Raw: A bitter, unpleasant taste.

Red Clover Tea: Red clover has been a valued medicine since ancient times as a detoxification herb or “blood cleanser.” In the 19th century it was valued for treating respiratory problems, colds, flues and infections. The tea, like that of licorice root, is used to treat gastrointestinal problems as a hydrocortisone cream replacement for alleviating skin inflammations and psoriasis.

Rize Tea or Çay: Black tea produced in Rize Province on the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey. It is mahogany in color. Prepared in a samovar, it can be served strong or weak in small glasses with cubed sugar.

Rolling: The process of crushing the leaves to initiate fermentation and impart twist.

Rooibos: An herbal tea from Africa, pronounced roy-boss. Also called red tea or red bush tea because of the red color of the liquor.

Russian Tea: The Russian way of taking tea in a glass, rather than a cup, with a slice of lemon. Often served with a spoonful of cherry preserves, sugar or honey can be used to sweeten as well.

Rwanda: An African tea producer, whose teas are used for blending purposes. Rwanda tea has a bright coppery color and brisk taste.

Samovar: A metal urn with a spigot, traditionally used in Russia to boil water for tea and traditionally having a chimney and heated by coals. The teapot at the top is used to brew a strong concentrate of tea, which is diluted with boiled water from the main container. They were developed in the late 18th century and continue in use today—including modern electrified versions.

Saw Palmetto Tea: An herbal tea used as an anti-inflammatory to treat certain male urinary problems associated with non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate.

Sencha: A Japanese green tea noted for its delicate sweetness, mild astringency and flowery-green aroma. The most popular variety in Japan, more than three-quarters of all tea produced in Japan is sencha. It was invented in the 18th century by a Japanese tea producer who used a method of steaming, drying and rolling the tea, called sencha. Sencha is grown in full sunlight and is made from the young leaves of uncovered plants (usually the top parts of the tea leaves and the buds). The earliest season (first month’s sencha harvest) is called shincha. Later harvests of sencha have more astringent qualities, a more robust flavor and generally less aroma.

White Tea: White tea is picked early in spring when all the leaves, which are green, are still in a bud and covered with fine, silvery white hair or down—hence the name. White tea is made mostly from the buds of the tea bush. The buds can be harvested for only a short period every spring, making white tea the rarest and most costly of teas (it also must be hand-picked and hand-processed). Because it is new growth, and there are fewer buds per plant compared to leaves, white tea is produced in lesser quantities than green or black tea, accounting for the rarity.

Production of white tea is similar to green tea: very light processing and no fermentation (oxidation). The tea remains in its natural state, subject only to withering and firing (steaming). The buds are withered or wilted in the shade while subjected to cool circulating air, to allow the moisture to evaporate; then are gently dried in natural sunlight. In order to obtain a level of moisture loss comparable to other teas, the leaves are left to wither for a much longer period of time: from 52 to 60 hours. They are then immediately dried in large pans for approximately half an hour. The process might appear simple but the production of white teas is actually one of the most delicate: withering in the heat and humidity of the open air is impossible to control, and the tea planter exercises great skill to accurately predicting weather conditions and organizes the plucking accordingly. Depending on the strain, the flavor of white tea can vary from light to sweet to savory or velvety and the color of the liquor can be almost clear to pale red. The most delicate tasting of teas, examples of white teas are Silver Needle, Snow Bud, White Peony, and Drum Mountain White Cloud. White tea has been produced in China, most notably in Fujian province, for thousands of years. Most white tea still comes from China, but other countries are starting to produce it.  In terms of health benefits: white tea retains more catechins (antioxidants); some studies have found that it has a greater anti-viral and anti-bacterial effect than green tea. It also has a higher level of caffeine than green tea, because it is the tip of the leaf, before it fully forms so there’s more of a concentration. Because the leaves are delicate, they should be steeped for only a minute.

Winey: A mellow quality, characteristic of some Darjeelings and Keemuns acquire when they are aged six months or more.The term also can be used to describe over-fermented tea.

Withering: The first step in production of most teas. Involves letting the fresh leaves wither for some period of time after plucking to reduce moisture content.

Woody: See Weedy.

Wu Long Slimming Tea: Hyped as a rare tea from a special mountain in China that enables one to “drink away pounds of stubborn body fat and inches from your waistline within 30 short days,” wu-long, which is known as oolong in the West (and translates to “black dragon”), is just plain oolong tea given an old-country name to enhance its mystique. All teas have about the same health benefits—in fact, the non-oxidized white and green have more antioxidants than black and oolong. As with any fad diet, there is a grain of truth to the benefit: clinical trials conducted at the University of Geneva in Switzerland indicate that green tea appears to raise metabolic rates and speed up fat oxidation. The catechin polyphenols in green tea raise thermogenesis (the rate at which calories are being burned), and thus overall energy expenditure. However, there’s a big stretch between “appears to raise metabolic rates” and “drink away pounds...within 30 short days,” and green is not oolong. There is no miracle to drinking tea, but lots of enjoyment to be gained from drinking good tea.

Yellow Tea: Refers to either a high-quality tea served at the Imperial court, or a special tea processed similarly to green tea, but with a slower drying phase.

Yunnan: Black tea grown in the Yunnan province of southwest China and known for its spicy character. The Yunnan region also produces pu-erh tea. Along with Assam, the region was the original site of wild tea plants.

Zimbabwe: A tea-producing country in Africa.