Here is some vocabulary to know if you are a beginner. The following were taken and modified from this site, and this one, and additional info was added by myself.
- Antioxidant: A compound found in tea that retards oxidation. Considered good for you.
- Astringency:The drying sensation, (or bite) in the mouth caused by certain teas.
- Body: A tea with body has a strong liquor not a thin, weak one.
- Bold: Big pieces of leaf.
- Brassy: Refers to a liquor with a bitter taste
- Bright: A bright liquor, not dull in appearance.
- Brisk: A lively taste, a well-fermented, well-fired tea.
- Choppy: Leaf that has been chopped in a reaker or cutter rather than rolled.
- Coarse: A liquor that has strength but poor quality.
- Colory: Special category teas with good colored liquor.
- Display Tea: A tea that has a special appearance once steeped.
- Dust: The smallest grade of tea, typically associated with lower quality. Dust is prized for its quick extraction and is commonly used in teabags.
- Even: Leaf pieces of roughly the same size.
- Fannings: Small particles of tea one grade larger than Dust produced as a by product of the tea making process.
- Flavory: With a distinctive taste.
- Flush: Flush refers to the four separate plucking seasons throughout the year, each known for it’s distinctive flavor.
- Formosa: Tea produced in Taiwan, typically oolong teas.
- Golden: Refers to the orange colored tips present in high quality black tea
- Grainy: Denotes well-made fannings or dusts.
- Harsh: A bitter, raw taste with little strength.
- Loose Tea: Tea not found in a tea bag and is alone and usually steeped with a strainer of some sort.
- Malty: With a hint of malt, found in well-made teas.
- Nose: The aroma of brewed tea.
- Oxidation: Describes the process of enzymic oxidation, where elements in the leaf react with air to create a darker brown-red color and characteristic aroma to the resulting tea.
- Point: Leaf with desirable briskness.
- Smooth: With a pleasant, rounded taste.
- Tainted: Unpleasant flavor caused by chemicals in cultivation, by damp conditions, by pollution.
- Thin: A tea with little strength due to hard withering, under-rolling, or too high a temperature.
- Tip: The very end of the delicate yound buds that give golden flecks to the processed leaf.
- Wiry: Well-twisted leaf, as opposed to open pieces
- Yunnan: A province in southwestern China known as the birthplace of tea. This region also produces Pu-Erh tea.