තේ රස බැලීමේ අංශය

කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ තේවල ගුණාත්මකභාවය විනිශ්චය කිරීමට පුහුණු, සංවේදී රසාංකුර සහ නාසයක් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වේ. තේ රස පරීක්ෂකවරයා වසර ගණනාවක් පුරා ඔහු/ඇය රස බැලූ තේ සමඟ එය සංසන්දනය කිරීමට සමත් විය යුතු බැවින් විශිෂ්ට රසය පිළිබඳ මතකයක් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වේ.

ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් රසය අත්විඳින්නේ දිව වන අතර මුඛයේ අනෙකුත් මතුපිට ද මෙහි කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කරයි. රස වර්ග හතරක් ඇත – ලුණු, ඇඹුල්, පැණිරස හා තිත්ත. දිවේ අගින් පැණි රසත්, පිටිපස්සෙන් කහට රසත් දැනේ. ලුණු රස බලන්නේ අගින් පමණක් නොව දිවේ ඉදිරිපස දෙපසින්ය. විදුරුමස් සහ කම්මුලේ කොටසෙහි දැනෙන රසයන්  නොවන අතර දැඩි බවක් හෝ තියුණු බවක් යනු සංවේදනයකි. පසුපස දාරවල ඇඹුල දැනේ. තේ  සාරය මුඛයට ගෙන කලතන විට, ඝනකම, පදම් මට්ටම හෝ දුස්ස්රාවීතාවය දැනෙන අතර ඒ අනුව තේ විනිශ්චය කරනු ලැබේ. රස පරික්ෂකයින්ට, “ඉන්ෆියුස්ඩ්” කොළ යනු සාරය ඉවතට ගිය පසු ඉතිරි වන තෙත් කොළය; “ඉන්ෆියුෂන්” යන්නෙන් අදහස් කරන්නේ සාරය ය.

රස ලක්ෂණ සහ පත්‍රවල වර්ණය, ප්‍රමාණය, සහ හැඩය සමස්ත ගුණාත්මක බව පැහැදිලි කිරීම සඳහා තේ කර්මාන්තය විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද විශේෂිත භාෂාවක් භාවිතයෙන් ශ්‍රේණිගත කර ඇත.

2.15.3 Tea Tasting Terminology

2.15.3.1 Terms Describing Dry Leaf 

• Black: A black appearance is desirable.
• Blackish: A satisfactory appearance.
• Bold: Particles of leaf which are too large for the particular grade.
• Brown: A brown appearance in teas that normally indicates overly harsh treatment of the leaf.
• Clean: Leaf that is free from fiber, dust and all extraneous matter.
• Curly: The leaf appearance of whole leaf grade teas such as O.P., as distinct from “wiry”.
• Even: True to the grade, consisting of pieces of leaf of a fairly even size.
• Flaky: Flat, open and often light in texture.
• Gray: Caused by too much abrasion during sorting.
• Grainy: Describes primary grades of well-made CTC teas such as Pekoe Dust.
• Leafy: A tea in which leaves tend to be on the large or long side.
• Light: A tea light in weight, of poor density. Sometimes flaky.
• Make: Well-made tea (or not), true to its grade.
• Musty: A tea affected by mildew.
• Neat: A grade having good “make” and size.
• Powdery: Fine light dust.
• Ragged: An uneven, badly manufactured and graded tea.
• Stalk & Fibre: Should be minimal in superior grades but is generally unavoidable in lower-grade teas.
• Tip: A sign of fine plucking, apparent in top grades of orthodox “Low Grown Type Teas”.
• Uneven & Mixed: “Uneven” pieces of leaf usually indicative of poor sorting and not true to the particular grade.
• Well Twisted: Used for describing whole-leaf grades, often referred to as “well-made” or “rolled”.
• Wiry: Leaf appearance of a well-twisted, thin-leaf tea.

2.15.3.2 Terms Describing Infused Leaf

• Aroma: Smell or scent denoting “inherent character,” usually in tea grown at high altitudes.
• Bright: A lively bright appearance. Usually indicates bright liquors.
• Coppery: Bright leaf that indicates a well-manufactured tea.
• Dull: Lacks brightness and usually denotes poor tea. Can be due to faulty manufacture and firing, or a high moisture content.
• Dark: A dark or dull color that usually indicates poorer leaf.
• Green: When referring to black tea, refers to under-fermentation or to leaves from immature bushes (liquors often raw or light). Can also be caused by poor rolling.
• Mixed or Uneven: Leaf of varying color.

2.15.3.3 Terms Describing Liquors

• Bakey: over-fired liquor. Tea in which too much moisture has been driven off.
• Body: 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 origin, describing teas grown at high altitudes.
• Coarse: Describes harsh, undesirable liquor.
• Coloury: Indicates useful depth of colour and strength.
• Cream: A precipitate obtained after cooling.
• Dry: Indicates slight over-firing.
• 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 underfermentation (Sometimes under withering).
• Harsh: A taste generally due to under withered leaf. Very rough.
• Heavy: thick, strong and coloury liquor with limited briskness.
• High-Fried: Over-fired but not bakey or burnt
• Lacking: Describes neutral liquor. No body or pronounced characteristics.
• Light: Lacking 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: 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 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 colour and strength.
• Thin: insipid light liquor that lacks desirable characteristics.