Tea tasting is an enjoyment both spiritually and artistically. Now, it will illustrate the right steps in tasting a cup of tea. In this way, everyone can enjoy the mellow and sweet of tea through drinking.
How to taste the tea?
Simply put, tea tasting is using mouth, eyes, nose to appreciate the color, aroma and flavor of the tea. It is better to use a white porcelain tea cup to taste the tea. The reason behind it is because the tea in the white cup makes it easier to observe the color of the tea. The tasting steps are normally divided into smell the aroma of the tea, observe the color of the tea, drink the tea and check the residual left.
- Smell the aroma of the tea
First, you should pour the tea into the white porcelain tea cup or Wenxiang Cup, and then smell the aroma of the tea slowly and carefully with your nose, for aromas like flower, milk, fruit or others. These aromas are generated with the types of tea leaves and methods of manufacture. Once finished with smelling the aromas, you should start looking for stink smell, such as sour, musty or unfamiliar flavor. These smells are caused during the manufacturing process or inappropriate storage methods.
- Observe the color of the tea
After smelling the aroma of the tea, it is time to observe the color of the tea. Tea made of good quality tea leaves should look bright and clear. If the color of the tea is either too dark or too light, it might because the tea leaves are brewed too long or the time was not long enough. Normally, an expert would be able to tell if the tea is properly brewed by only looking at the tea.
- Take a taste of the tea
Finish checking the color of the tea, take a small sip of the tea, hold tea inside your mouth. Stirring the tea inside your mouth with your tongue. The acerbic taste has left on the tip of your tongue. The bitterness has kept at your tongue root. Stirring the tea with your tongue is beneficial for promoting the palate of the tongue. Thus, you can taste the bitterness, sweetness, and acerbic taste.
- Check out the residues left
Once you swallow the tea, take a deep breath, or you can stand up and walk around. It is helpful in assisting the delivering of the tea aroma to the throat, producing so-called “sweetness at the throat”. After tasting the tea, pour the tea leaves out. You should check the completeness and the size of the tea leaves. Normally, the tea leaves with good quality should be kept intact.
Good tea is like good fruit, which has color, aroma and flavor. Learning how to taste a cup of tea, you can really enjoy the mellow and sweet of the tea leaves.