A Lifelong Journey of Sensory Training
Hi everyone, I'm Andy, a passionate tea lover.
Becoming a skilled tea evaluator is a dream for many tea drinkers.
Unlike wine or coffee, tea presents an extraordinary challenge,
with countless varieties shaped by cultivar, terroir, and processing methods,
no single standard can measure the quality of all teas.
For this reason, each major tea-producing region has developed its own evaluation system and specialists.
In this article, I'd like to share the core training methods for becoming a tea evaluator,
from a practical standpoint.
The Foundation: Sensory Accumulation Through Everyday Life
The training of a tea evaluator comes from the practice of daily life.
Tea flavors are delicate and refined.
How to translate your perception of tea into precise words
relies on a rich accumulation of sensory experiences and associations from everyday life.
In other words, the richer your memory bank of flavors from daily life,
the more accurate your tea evaluation language becomes.
For example: Dong Ding Oolong carries a "glutinous rice aroma,"
produced by oxidation (fermentation) combined with appropriate roasting.
If you describe it only as "fruity,"
when comparing large numbers of samples,
the subtle differences between teas become difficult to distinguish.
The precision of your descriptive vocabulary directly affects your effectiveness as an evaluator.
The Hardest Task: Finding Absolute Aroma Descriptors
Finding absolute aroma and flavor descriptors is the most difficult task in becoming a tea evaluator.
Take Wenshan Baozhong and Fresh Oolong as an example, both carry floral notes.
If "floral" is your only distinguishing descriptor,
once the number of tea samples increases, you won't be able to tell which is which.
The only solution is to deeply familiarize yourself with individual flower aromas.
Training Tip
Visit flower markets and spend time in nature smelling flowers,
and memorize the scent of specific varieties.
Gardenia, wild ginger flower, oncidium orchid, and so on.
Knowing the variety is what allows precise description.
Tea aroma is multi-layered.
A single tea contains multiple aromas in different proportions,
and the order in which they appear also differs.
Take Jin Xuan Oolong as an example:
the primary aromas are osmanthus and sweetness, with a possible milky finish.
To go deeper.
Sweetness can be broken down into white sugar, brown sugar, rock sugar, and black sugar;
the milky note can range from whole milk, low-fat milk, pasteurized milk, UHT milk,
to even specific brand flavors.
This level of refinement can only be built through rich food and beverage experiences in daily life.
Building a Personal Sensory Reference System
Tea language does not need to be universal.
The flavor descriptions you propose do not have to be agreed upon by everyone.
As long as you yourself can consistently distinguish between different tea samples.
Think of it like the Egyptian Rosetta Stone:
different languages describe the same thing,
and as long as both parties know they are referring to the same aroma, communication works.
Consider under-oxidized (under-fermented) Oolong:
some say it has a "mung bean" flavor, some say "grass," others say "seaweed."
All three descriptors are correct.
As long as communication is possible, there's no need to force uniformity of terminology.
Industrial food products can also serve as aroma reference samples.
I once purchased chemical aroma standards as training materials.
For example, hexenol, which is an important source of fresh green fragrance in tea.
One important note: pure chemical compounds must be diluted significantly
before they begin to resemble the aroma found in actual tea.
The Tea Evaluator as Detective: Multi-Sensory Judgment
The nose alone is not enough.
A tea evaluator must work like a detective,
combining smell, taste, and sight to make accurate quality assessments.
Aroma can deceive.
Physical condition and emotional state can both cause misjudgment.
At those times, the color of the tea liquor and the appearance of the spent leaves
become important supporting clues:
・Smell: identify aroma type, layers, and sequence of appearance
・Taste: assess sweetness, bitterness, astringency, body, and finish
・Sight: observe liquor color, clarity, and the uniformity and condition of the spent leaves
Just as adding salt to watermelon makes it taste sweeter,
seemingly negative factors can sometimes enhance a tea's best qualities.
This shows that tea aroma is a composite of multiple factors,
not something that can be replicated by a single compound.
This complex interplay of human senses is precisely why
instruments and machines still cannot fully replace the human evaluator.
The Core Mission: Identifying Character and Defects
A tea evaluator's role is not to judge tea based on personal preference,
but to objectively identify a tea's characteristics and defects.
Defects can originate at three stages:
・Farm management: improper fertilizer use, pest and disease damage causing off-flavors
・Production: under- or over-oxidation (fermentation), improper roasting
・Storage: moisture absorption, odor contamination, oxidative degradation
Every tea has both strengths and weaknesses.
There is no absolutely good tea and no absolutely bad tea.
The value of a tea evaluator lies in the ability to clearly articulate
what a tea's strengths are and where its shortcomings lie, not in saying "I like it" or "I don't."
Becoming a Tea Evaluator Is a Lifelong Practice
There are no shortcuts to becoming a tea evaluator.
Drink more tea, eat more good food, experience more of life,
and build connections between those experiences and what you find in the cup.
The next time you encounter the same tea,
the memories will surface naturally.
Your descriptions will become more precise,
and your judgments more convincing.
Whatever your reason for learning tea evaluation,
personal growth, a career in the industry,
or simply a deeper appreciation for a good cup,
the most important thing will always be:
Drink what you love.
Thank you for reading. I hope this has been helpful. See you next time.
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