When we eat or drink something, we pay attention to its appearance and colour, of course, but once it is in our mouth, we consider the flavour, texture and aroma.
There are five flavours, or taste elements: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and a fifth, lesser known taste, called umami. Tea does not naturally have a salty flavour, but all the other taste elements are present. A tea can have several flavours. Just as an orange is both sweet and sour, a pu erh can be both sweet and umami.
29 January 2016
Three senses come into play when we drink tea and analyse the liquor: taste, which focuses on flavours (sweet, salty, acidic, bitter, umami, etc.), smell – made more effective through…
16 November 2012
All along the roadsides in India there are many stalls serving delicious spiced tea. The flavour varies according to the mood of the person preparing it and the clientele’s preferences….
12 April 2019
When I tell people that I sometimes taste 50 or 100 teas a day, or even more, many are surprised, and ask: how can you try that many teas and…
12 March 2013
At the moment I’m tasting between 50 and 100 different teas a day. I try them in series of about 10 or 12. When you taste so many teas at…
