The flavour of each cup of tea is a complex and magical combination of smell, taste and touch.
Our sense of smell is first activated when we inhale the brewed leaf and liquor. Then, once the tea liquor is in our mouth it is activated by exhaling through the nose, this time transformed by the action of saliva and warmth of the mouth. To appreciate the role of this sense you only need to pinch your nose while drinking a cup of tea. During a tasting session at the World Tea Expo earlier in the year I experimented with this and how the balance of flavours appear to change. You almost feel you need to tune your taste buds into another frequency.
Our Sense of Taste Changes Our Perception of Tea Flavours
Our sense of taste is based on five sensations - sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. The majority of these sensations are picked up by the taste buds in the tongue however there are sensors all around the mouth. The temperature of our cup of tea is very important for the perception of taste. Sweet is accentuated by heat, while bitter, salty and umami are less perceptible when tea is very hot. Sensitivity to sour remains unchanged by temperature variations.
Our sense of touch is at play when we handle the dry leaf but is also perceptible in the mouth with the tactile sensations picking up the texture of the tea. Teas can be thought of talking teas – teas that lubricate the mouth or mediating teas – teas that dry the mouth.
For each of us our sense of flavour can register differently and can be subject to our personal food memory bank. There is one blend in our range that clearly divides opinion and that is the crimson berry herbal tisane. Every summer at the farmers markets equal numbers of customers comment to me on how sweet the blend is or how sour the blend is – they are talking about the same blend – just different perceptions.
Science of Tea Tasting
When tasting tea, all five of our senses are activated:
- Hearing - the dry leaves falling into the pot, the jug boiling, the sound of the tea being poured and the chinking of a cup on a saucer
- Touch - feeling the dry leaves on our finger tips and your finger through the handle on the tea cup
- Taste - when drinking tea, the flavour we enjoy varies depending on the fermentation process, the strength of the brew and the type of tea
- Smell - there are three aromas to tea: the primary aroma is in relation to the growing conditions and climate of the tea plant; the secondary aroma is based upon the production processes, with the tertiary aroma based upon how the tea is stored
- Sight - the shape and sizes of the dry tea leaves, images of the tea pickers wearing colourful sarees in the tea fields and the many colours of the tea liquor once water is poured upon the leaves
We'd love for you to experience some of our Stir Tea flavours. Perhaps the best place to start would be with one of our Variety Packs, where you will receive a selection of your choice of either black, green, herbals and fruit or a mixed variety pack.
Posted: Saturday 21 March 2020
