Taste and aroma exaggerated?

Oxidized tea
Post Reply
jaybo
New user
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:28 am

Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:45 am

I drink several varieties of black tea. They are variously described with adjectives such as "sweet flavor with hints of malty nuttiness with wafting hues of caramelized nuts and raisins", "a seamless composition of grassy-sweet aromatics with a cedar/grape cup character that finishes faintly floral", "Effervescent, floral aromatics, lively mouthfeel, and tastes like a hot Iowa prairie", "A lively, effervescent Darjeeling that is bright & spring-time floral. The sugary floral finish is exceptional", It has a ripe plum aroma, a soft yet solid body, and a bosky sweet tang known only to Darjeeling. It has wild potency well worth your exploration", and similar.

However, when I brew the tea (roughly 1 tbs per cup for 4 minutes) I get a very mild tea. In fact, most tea I drink has a very mild flavor. Am I doing something wrong?
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Wed Nov 30, 2022 3:52 pm

There are multiple things at play here.

It's impossible to know what you are doing right or wrong without digging into various parameters. Volumetric measures for tea are problematic because a tablespoon of one tea will not weigh the same as a tablespoon of another. We'd also want to know about the water being used, temperature of the water, volume of the water, various details about the brewing vessel, time, and tea used. With this we can get an approximation of what is happening with your tea.

The real issue is that you are reading marketing language. To borrow an idea from James Hoffman, I think this language is doing two different jobs: describe the taste of the tea and entice you to buy the tea. Regarding the former, these are comparative characteristics of the body, aromatics, sweetness. When done well, the words used in these descriptions should cover at least body, aromatics, and sweetness. For example, a word like "syrupy" informs us to expect a thick body relative to other teas in its genre. A descriptor like "plum" informs us that it may have a plum-like sourness. If a tea is described as having a "honeysuckle" fragrance then I would expect bright florals.

Some sellers are more accurate at describing their tea's characteristics than others. Thes du Japon is a standout in this regards. If Florent says that there is a "fig" aroma in the tea then it is there. If a characteristic is missing from one of his teas then look to improve your technique or tasting skills. I can very frequently produce the stated aromatics with good technique provided the tea was accurately described.

But again-- TDJ is an standout. Most are not nearly as accurate. Supermarket teas are not accurate at all.

An overly specific descriptor like "hot Iowa prairie" isn't very useful, though I am guilty of using these because some aromas are profoundly specific and evocative. There's an aroma in some Taiwanese teas that takes me back to the cold, fall mornings of my childhood when I would chew rabbit tobacco to stay alert. That aroma for me is identical to rabbit tobacco but I might describe it to others as being like musty fenugreek. This isn't marketing language but something I might note to a friend at the table.

HTH
User avatar
Teafortea
Posts: 220
Joined: Sun May 15, 2022 2:29 am
Location: France

Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:50 pm

Years and years ago I used to drink only teas from houses like dammann freres, marriage freres etc. they’re everywhere in Paris. If I wanted to try a tea, the seller would bring his big can close to my nose and ask me to smell it. I would go home happy like I had bought different perfumes. Most of the time it was only my nose that was amused and perhaps a bit of the pride that I owned some cool tea boxes. Then one day I fell upon a Taiwanese Li Shan during my expat years in USA. The tea my friend served was just so different. I asked her to tell me more about it and there I started buying tea leaves and discovering around. The first years I was frustrated because tea websites would have these lengthy descriptions and then I would brew and taste nada of it…But you learn along the way. Now I just don’t shop from sellers who have millions of metaphors and adjectives. Like Baisao said, TDJ is my top favorite for this reason. It says fig, it has fig. I’m not a prof in tea and I’m still learning but finding good sellers has made the tea experience very relaxing and enjoyable.
GaoShan
Posts: 322
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:06 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Sat Dec 03, 2022 9:12 pm

As Baisao said, this could be due to your steeping parameters. Maybe try changing the amount of leaf, volume of water, temperature, etc. to get a stronger cup.

Also, marketing hype definitely plays a role, as does the fact that taste is subjective. I might think a tea tastes like blackberries, while someone else might think it tastes like cranberries or currants. This could be due to many things, including culture, experience with various foods, whether you're a supertaster, and on and on.

Finally, picking out aromas and flavours takes practice. I was a lot worse at this when I first started drinking tea several years ago.
Andrew S
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:53 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Sun Dec 04, 2022 12:46 am

jaybo wrote:
Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:45 am
However, when I brew the tea (roughly 1 tbs per cup for 4 minutes) I get a very mild tea. In fact, most tea I drink has a very mild flavor. Am I doing something wrong?
There isn't enough context to this to be able to give any useful comments. You should consider introducing yourself around here by describing your background, as others have done.

For example, have you been drinking tea for many years, or only for a few months or weeks? Do other teas taste good while these do not? What do you expect tea to taste like?

Vendor descriptions can be poor guides, but, depending on your level of experience with tea, you may also be expecting too much, or expecting a different kind of experience than you'll get. Again, it is hard to tell.

Andrew
gregcss
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:43 pm
Location: Virginia, US

Sun Dec 04, 2022 1:20 pm

Hi @jaybo, welcome to the forum.

As others have pointed out, the brewing parameters will have major impacts on the end cup. Finding the parameters that best suits your tastes and the particular tea leaves that you are using will be trial and error. Also, using volume to measure tea leaves (i.e. 1 tablespoon) will yield different weight of tea depending on how the size of the tea leaves. How big are the leaves of the tea that you are brewing? I typically use 3 grams of tea with 170ml (6oz) of 95C water and brew for 2 minutes.
User avatar
debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:59 am

Another important thing to consider is what you’re used to drinking: if you’ve been drinking a lot of flavored teas with extracts and bits of dried fruits, herbs, and spices, you may be expecting too much from tea made strictly from Camellia sinensis leaves.
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:44 am

debunix wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:59 am
Another important thing to consider is what you’re used to drinking: if you’ve been drinking a lot of flavored teas with extracts and bits of dried fruits, herbs, and spices, you may be expecting too much from tea made strictly from Camellia sinensis leaves.
I had the opposite experience. I was surprised by how convincingly accurate C sinensis-sinensis was compared to flavored teas at duplicating various flavors. Flavored teas or tisanes smelled like dried whatever whereas C sinensis-sinensis smelled like the fresh thing.
User avatar
debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:13 am

I’m thinking here specifically I have a friend of mine, who does not like tea because “it’s barely flavored water”. He will drink fruit juice, fruit punches, occasional soda, but mostly drinks water. So it’s not that he only drinks things with tons of flavor, but he feels like tea is a poor imitation of juice and water at the same time.
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:39 pm

debunix wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:13 am
I’m thinking here specifically I have a friend of mine, who does not like tea because “it’s barely flavored water”. He will drink fruit juice, fruit punches, occasional soda, but mostly drinks water. So it’s not that he only drinks things with tons of flavor, but he feels like tea is a poor imitation of juice and water at the same time.
There will always be those who want their Xtreme Fajitas to be Flavor Blasted ™
Post Reply