What is the best way to determine the merits of a green tea, and what are the factors that define this benchmark? Price? Rarity? Grade? Leaf style? Deliciousness? The promise of “High Quality” or the “World’s Finest”? All of these can be a measure used to influence the price of tea. But cost or rarity alone does not ensure a tasty tea. Beware the oft-used and usually meaningless phrases “high-quality” or “world’s finest” which many vendors attach to their tea. This is simply advertising and should be disregarded when evaluating green tea. Other, more reliable variables can be counted on to assess a batch of tea. We prefer to begin judging the potential merits of a tea by evaluating its soundness .
Soundness is the overall impression that a tea has on us when we look at it. A sound tea consists of tea leaves that are even in colour or tone; relatively uniform in shape and size, and pleasant and enticing in the aroma. The tea should give the overall impression that it is robust and wholesome, and in prime condition, not faded, lacklustre, and past its prime. Condition and appearance, as well as taste, are important in tea. Chinese tea drinkers evaluate all aspects of tea in three phases:
• Dry leaf, which is evaluated for colour and shape
• Tea liquor (the professional tea taster’s term for “liquid,” sippable tea), which is evaluated for aroma and taste
• Wet leaf after steeping, which is evaluated for shape, colour, and aroma What is being evaluated is how well the tea fits the expected appearance (colour, leaf size, and shape) and flavour profile that it should have.
Every Chinese green tea has a standard of excellence that the tea maker strives to meet and with which Chinese tea enthusiasts are familiar. For instance, Pan Long Yin Hao, a green tea, should show us that it is made from small, delicate leaves plucked very early in the spring from newly emerging leaves. Pan Long Yin Hao has an expected signature shape and size; if it does not, then something is wrong. Anhui Province’s delightful Keemun Mao Feng should be a fairly thin leaf and solid black in colour, whereas Yunnan Province’s Dian Hong should consist entirely of plump, golden buds. From the Chinese example, we have expanded our evaluation of tea into six criteria when we are purchasing tea to sell in our store:
• Overall appearance of the leaf
• Aroma of the dry leaf
• Aroma of the liquor
• Color of the liquor
• Aroma and appearance of the wet leaf
Our desire to know more about where our food and beverages come from and who produces it is, in a sense, putting a place and a face on tea and tea production. If you are new to green tea and not sure how to begin, start with a visit to your local tea shop. A well-stocked tea shop can be an overwhelming place, but the staff is there to help. Tell them what you have in mind: Will the tea be a gift or something for yourself? Perhaps you want to try an oolong tea for the first time, or are looking for a tea that you can drink every morning of the week. Tea shops will help you identify tea and learn the unique qualities of each tea. Before long, you will be able to distinguish one class of tea from another and pinpoint which country made a particular tea. Begin your tea adventures by setting up a small notebook and keeping it handy whenever you purchase a new tea. If you record information about your purchases, you will be amazed how quickly this information becomes useful as you develop your eye and your palate. Make notes for every green tea you try, and add entries for other details that become important to you:
• Name of the tea
• Class of the tea
• Country of production
• Exact grade of the tea
• Where you purchased the tea
• What you like or do not like about the tea
• What other teas it reminds you of: pro or con
The first step in identifying tea is to be able to learn the visual appearances and flavour differences among the six classes of tea: green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and Pu-erh. The teas within each class of tea have a distinctive appearance (and flavour), and it is generally very easy to tell them apart.
Whole-leaf premium green tea should have a beautiful, artistic appearance and bear no resemblance to the cut-tear-curl (CTC) or broken leaves used to fill standard tea bags. All tea is graded by size in the tea factory, and premium tea should be comprised of the whole leaf that is clean and consistent in size. For the tea to produce the best flavour when steeped, it must be graded well. If tea has undergone rough handling, and the leaves become crushed before it is sold, the flavour will suffer. Tea that contains discernible amounts of stems or other bits of foreign matter, broken leaf, or accumulated bits of tea dust is not premium tea and should not be purchased.
Tea should have a clean, sound look that suggests it was properly manufactured and handled. Unless the tea is a blend, the leaf should be recognizable by appearance and be consistent with the style of the tea. Most tea can be identified by the shape and colour of the leaves. If tea has a dull, lacklustre appearance, pass on it. For example, Wu Yi Shan rock oolong tea leaves should be long and leafy, thick and plump, and slightly rumpled or twisted and smoky grey-black in colour; they are never small and choppy. For all tea, the overall colour and tone of the leaf should be consistent within the batch. For example, some tea has a lot of tips, others some tip and many types have no tip.
No matter how much tip there is, the leaf should be uniform in size and appearance. With a few exceptions (sheng Pu-erh, Bai Hao Taiwan oolong, and the leafy white teas from Fujian, China), leaf colour should not be a mixture of tones, thicknesses, and lengths. Sound tea will have an even finish; the leaf should not be streaky or have blister spots (which indicates that the fresh leaf came in contact with a surface that was too hot). Poorly made or old tea will have a dull, faded appearance.
All tea has an aroma, but the aroma of some leaf is delicate and more pronounced in others. A subtle fragrance should not be mistaken for faded aroma or old tea, and a strong aroma does not indicate better tea. The good aroma should reflect the natural plant origins of tea and not smell like cardboard or plastic, or the peppercorns that someone placed next to the bag of tea. It is also important to differentiate between natural tea aroma and highly aromatized teas, such as jasmine, Lapsang Souchong, mango-apricot, or orange-spiced tea. The aroma of these teas has been created either during the manufacturing process (natural or artificial flower blossom scenting for jasmine tea and cold or hot wood-smoking for Lapsang Souchong) or by the addition of flavourings and spices (such as cinnamon, ginger, orange peel, and so on) after manufacture.
Tea has complex and evocative aromas that can make one want to drink a cup immediately. Good tea aroma should bring to mind enticing elements from the natural environment