Terms used to describe Liquors:
Aroma: Smell or scent denoting “inherent character,” usually in tea grown at high altitudes.
Bakey: An over-fired liquor. Tea in which too much moisture has been driven off.
Body: A liquor having both fullness and strength, as opposed to being thin.
Bright: Denotes a lively fresh tea with good keeping quality.
Brisk: The most “live” characteristic. Results from good manufacture.
Burnt: Extreme over-firing.
Character: An attractive taste, specific to the origin, describing teas grown at high altitudes.
Coarse: Describes a harsh, undesirable liquor.
Color: Indicates a useful depth of color and strength.
Cream: A precipitate obtained after cooling in well-made low grown teas.
Dull: Not clear, and lacking any brightness or briskness.
Earthy: Normally caused by damp storage, but can also describe a taste that is sometimes “climatically inherent” in teas from certain regions.
Empty: Describes a liquor lacking fullness. No substance.
Flat: Not fresh (usually due to age).
Flavor: A most desirable extension of “character,” caused by slow growth at high elevations. Relatively rare.
Fruity: Can be due to over-fermentation and/or bacterial infection before firing. An overripe taste.
Full: A good combination of strength and color.
Gone off: A flat or old tea. Often denotes a high moisture content.
Green: An immature, “raw” character. Often due to under fermentation (Sometimes under withering).
Harsh: A taste generally due to under withered leaf. Very rough.
Heavy: A thick, strong and colored liquor with limited briskness.
High-Fried: Over-fired but not bakery or burnt
Lacking: Describes a neutral liquor. No body or pronounced characteristics.
Light: Lacking the strength and depth of color.
Malty: A full, bright tea with a taste of malt.
Mature: Not bitter or flat.
Metallic: A sharp Metallic taste.
Muddy: A dull liquor.
Musty: Suspicion of mold.
Plain: A liquor that is “clean” but lacking in desirable characteristics.
Pungent: Astringent with a good combination of briskness, brightness and strength.
Quality: Refers to “cup quality” and denotes a combination of the most desirable liquoring qualities.
Raw: A bitter, unpleasant flavor.
Soft: The opposite of briskness. Lacking any “live” characteristic. Caused by inefficient fermentation and/or firing.
Strength: Substance in the cup.
Taint: Characteristic or taste that is foreign to tea, such as oil, garlic, etc. Often due to being stored next to other commodities with strong characteristics of their own.
Thick: Liquor with good color and strength.
Thin: An insipid light liquor that lacks desirable characteristics.