# How to taste tea and notice the differences

For your first tasting, use teaware you know, clean water and a few minutes to concentrate on the tea. Look at the leaves, let the infusion cool to a comfortable temperature and note what you taste. Your impressions may differ from the seller’s tasting notes.

![Tea samples and tasting cups arranged for comparison.](https://www.dao-cha.info/articles/tasting-set.jpg)

Tea samples and tasting cups arranged for comparison. Photo: [Marcangela](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tea_tasting_set.jpg) · [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

1. **Choose one or two teas.** Choose one tea, or two similar teas to compare, such as two Chinese black teas. Matching mugs with infusers, teapots or gaiwans all work. Use the same water and record leaf weight, water volume, temperature and time. Start with brewing advice for that tea.

Keep conditions alike when comparing similar teas. For different styles, you can brew each as recommended, while remembering that the recipe also affects the result. Avoid strong surrounding smells; after strongly flavoured food, wait until its taste has faded.
2. **Look at and smell the dry leaves.** Notice size, shape, colour, buds and stems. These offer clues about material and processing, but whole leaves are not always better than cut leaves, or pale leaves better than dark ones.

Smell a small portion. If you wish, warm it in a preheated vessel wiped dry; this can make the aroma easier to notice. Start broadly: floral, fruity, grassy or roasted. If there is mould, evidence of damp damage or a suspicious musty smell, do not taste the tea to check it.
3. **Taste a small sip, then pause.** Separate the infusion from the leaves when the brewing time is up. Let a small amount cool until comfortable, then sip. A gentle slurp is optional; do not draw scalding tea into your mouth.

Notice flavour first: sweetness, bitterness, acidity or umami, if present. Then mouthfeel: light or full, smooth or astringent, drying or not. Pause after swallowing and notice which flavours remain and how they change. A returning sweet finish is called hui gan; it need not follow bitterness in a fixed sequence.
4. **Follow how the tea changes.** Taste the same cup again as it cools. Then compare the first few infusions, noticing changes in aroma, strength and astringency. Each may bring out a different part of the tea.

If the tea is too strong, try a shorter steep or fewer leaves next time, changing one thing and noting the result. Stop when you have had enough, or if you feel unwell.
5. **Examine the infused leaves.** Spread a few leaves on a pale plate. Can you see buds, mature leaves, stems or cut pieces? Rolled leaves often open to reveal shapes that were hard to see when dry.

Consider the tea type: ripe pu-erh and Longjing will look different. Colour, flexibility and size do not prove safety, tree age or authenticity. Compare the wet-leaf aroma with the infusion, without treating either as the only reliable evidence.
6. **Keep a note you can use later.** A few lines are enough: “Dian Hong, 2.5 g / 250 ml, 95 °C, 3 minutes. Dried-fruit aroma, mild bitterness, slightly drying. Try 2 minutes next time.” This is an example note, not a universal recipe.

Write your own impressions before reading someone else’s. “Creamy” might refer to aroma or texture, and you may notice neither. Check the batch and brewing method, but do not assume a different impression means your palate is wrong.

## Questions and answers

**Can I taste tea in a mug?**

Yes. A mug with a roomy infuser lets you control the steeping time and compare teas easily. Short infusions in a gaiwan are another way to explore the flavour.

**Do I need to give scores?**

Only if they help you. Notes on flavour, brewing and whether you would like to drink it again are usually enough to guide another purchase.

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Source: https://www.dao-cha.info/en/guide/how-to-taste-tea