Intro

Tea Tasting (评茶), also translated as Tea Assessment, Tea Grading or Tea Testing, is the last rampart of gate-keeping that companies can leverage to assert their claims about this or that tea. “You may think X tea is a rip off, but did you know it won N number of medals and that our master is a provincial level tea assessor; “you may call that nutty, but actually this is classified as having a milk aroma.” In China, tea tasting is a regulated and licensed profession whose techniques, equipment, and terminology have evolved out of the fixed procurement system of the 1950s, traditional production standards of local styles, and the more recent proliferation of industry-led competitions. It is our goal in this seven part series to give English-language readers a comprehensive and critical guide to Chinese tea tasting. We hope this information will help demystify the process and enrich your own personal tea tasting.

 

Uniformed Tea Assessor At Work In Enshi Factory

Historical Background

Since at least the Jin Dynasty, the ability to distinguish grades of tea based on pick date was considered the mark of a Chinese gentleman. By the end of the Feudal period, local tea grades had developed for given teas based on pick date: Anhua dark tea picks had been divided into Tianjian, Gongjian, and Shengjian; Fuding White Tea and Luan Guapian followed a similar system of gradation. All of these grades were purely commercial and thus flexible depending on who was asking. Some written descriptions survive from the Shanxi tea merchants who controlled the trade between Hunan and Mongolia and their are some details also left behind by coastal compradors in Amoy and Fuzhou, but such information was only ever intended for their literate peers. There was no standardized system of teas assessment at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

That began to change in the 1930’s. Some of the researchers like Wu Juenong visited Japan, India, and the Soviet Union with a mind to better produce, label, and sell the Chinese tea that had fallen to just 7% of the global tea supply in 1930 and 4% of the global market's total The work of Wu and others would set the tone for all that has followed. Filtered mug and dreg basin in hand, Wu Juenong set up base in Wuyishan whereas collaborators like Hu Haochuan set about standardizing Qimen production in Anhui. During the war, students moved to experimental stations in Guizhou, Hubei, and Yunnan. Dianhong was born from the agronomic efforts of these early pioneers hoping to copy the success of Assam red tea. A generation of experts were taught the first series of standard courses in tea tasting in tandem with cultivation and processing classes. No student learned any of these subjects in insolation. There were no professional tea assessors who could not also grow and process the leaves they would later drink and grade. These students would not have been taught the tea sommelier“茶艺师” course focusing on the optimal brewing for enjoyment that is now most common at Chinese universities.

After Communist Victory, these programs continued under the backdrop of something Wu Juenong had been advocating for almost two decades: centralized government procurement. Just like wheat or corn, between 1955 and 1984, tea was exclusively purchased by government procurement officials from cooperative, collective, or state-owned factories. As Sun Changde, a factory worker at the Wuyang Commune Tea Factory between 1971 and 1982 remembers, procurement standards were very strict. A seven-tier system for red tea based on pick and processing compliance was enforced and upheld. All the red that was graded was for export, and the tea they picked and processed in their own homes was never graded or intended for outside consumption. Grandpa Luo, who picked and processed for the Enshi County Factory between the late 1960’s and the early 2000’s, remembers that picking standards for premium green tea were equally stringent. Every picker knew the grade that corresponded to a given ratio of buds-to-leaves, and prices were fixed to a given grade without exception.

This sort of system demanded a degree of fairness and transparency that the tea merchants of past centuries would have never given. With that came the usual scientific demand for precision and standardization. Water used in assessment always needed to be the same temperature, brewed in the same vessel for the same duration of time using the same tea-to-leaf ratio. During the Great Leap Forward, Soviet devices were even imported to measure water hardness used during such assessments in Yichang, Hubei. The goal of this standardization was always to drink for understanding rather than enjoyment. Classification and jargon followed. By 1983, as there era drew to a close, there were seven accepted terms for dry leaf shape and five terms for dreg shape.

As you can might be able to glean from the shape-terms above, in the early 1980's assessment was still oriented towards export and mass market needs of British or Soviet consumers. What’s less obvious is the differences in assessment technique that slowly developed between staff at different enterprises who worked in different area. Students who studied assessment based on red tea in Anhui or green tea in Hubei would find a slightly different vocabulary and methodology if ultimately stationed in Fujian or Yunnan. Cheng Guisheng, a manager of the Anhui Wuhu Tea Company in the 1980’s, wrote that professionals did also did not agree on whether or not dregs counted towards scoring a tea’s outer appearance. The concept of inner and outer quality, with dregs reflecting inner quality, seemed absurd to the red tea factory manager. In Cheng’s opinion, aroma and taste ought to be primary, while color and shape were secondary. He felt some professionals excessively emphasized the dregs in scoring. This dispute continues on to the present day, where the “outer quality” of premium green teas has only grown in domestic prestige.

Modern Course

Today, tea assessment has both national and local standards that all professional assessors would be expected to know. With the end of the speciality product-tax system and supporting government bureaus in the mid-2000’s, tea assessment went private while the officially recognized course became more sensitive to local-level variety and the premium selling points that leading producing in these areas wanted to enforce. Now, there is a single textbook edited by the Zhongguo Chaye Xuehui and published in two editions by the Jindun Publishing house. If one wants to get registered as an official tea assessor in the national database, they have to pass a course based on this textbook. Few actually do so. Despite a cash reward, only 12,355 people were registered in Anxi despite more than 800,000 estimated to be working in the county’s tea industry.

According to this national system, there are five levels of tea tasting experts:

“The level-5 lowest beginner taster is expected to know the basic process of tea scoring, use tea scoring vocabulary, timely record their results, and assess the quality of a tea in a rudimentary way. A Level-3 advanced taster has mastered assessment of at least 2/6 main categories of tea, including a knowledge of the levels assigned to premium green tea production. They must be able to score green tea according to the official point system and distinguish the basic features of rough and refined versions of teas in 2/6 categories. ”

The goal of this blog series is to take you through this course such that you would have the same basic level of understanding that a “Level-3” learner might have without spending a dime or speaking a lick of Chinese. Information has been combined from the 2009 version of the official textbook, feedback from two test proctors, three tea licensed assessors, and a variety of supporting essays, anecdotes, and pictures.

 

Ten Steps Of Tea Assessment

Zhang Qinghai (2019) chunks out the tea assessment process described in the official course into ten steps that will basically remain true regardless of whatever tea one is trying:

• i. 取样 Sample Selection
• ii. 把盘(摇样盘) Pan-Grabbing
• iii. 扦样 Sample Prodding
• iv. 称样 Sample Weighing
• v. 冲泡I nfusion
• vi. 沥茶汤 Liquor Draining
• vii. 评汤色 Liquor Assessment
• viii. 闻香气 Aroma Assessment
• ix. 尝滋味 Flavor Assessment
• x. 评叶底 Dreg Assessment

i. Sample Selection.

If assessing a large batch of tea take one sample if there are less than 5 containers, or two samples if there are 6-50 units. Fill a assessing plate with the chosen sample(s) of 100-200 grams of tea, check that the tea in the four corners of the plate and that in the middle are equally representative in quality and appearance.

ii. Pan-Grabbing (Plate Shaking)

Gently place a handful of tea from the initial pan onto a second tea pan. Tilt this tea pan left-to-right, then back-to-front and so forth. One can rotate the tea on the pan clockwise and counter clockwise until the tea on the pan forms a circular bunch. The goal of this exercises is to group potentially heterogeneous leaves within a sample according to weight, size, thickness, and length. If you have done it right, three distinct layers within a given sample of tea can form in the center of the pan.

With your eyes, nose, and fingers, flip around the tea in this tidy little pile and make an initial assessment of aroma, shape, color, pick tenderness, moisture content, and the presence of non-tea matter. Pay attention to whether or not the tea leaf gleams with oily moisture or is dull and dry. The ratio between tea proper, stems, broken leaves, and other matter should all be apparent at this stage.

If layering forms after shaking, know that it is the plumpest and longest leaves that you will often see on the surface of your pile, while small buds and broken bits will fall through to the bottom. Hence one does need to flip the pile in order to make an objective assessment. It is also a good idea to use a scooper to transport your tea sampler and utensil other than your hand to flip around the tea leaves in the final pile. One should never put tea into the palm of their hands, where sweat is most wont to accumulate and affect the outcome of the assessment.

Pro tip: In smaller scale tastings, a handful of tea is usually just taken from the bag/tin and dropped into a dry leaf pan. At home, It will almost certainly not be necessary to use two plates.

iii.   Sample Prodding

Use your pointer finger, middle finger, and thumb to vertically pull out a smaller sample from the center of your pile. It is essential that one’s fingers penetrate down to the bottom of the pile, getting tea from all layers. This motion should be done delicately enough so as to avoid breaking any leaves. This smaller sample lifted can be more than the 3-4 grams needed to test a given tea, but it should absolutely not be any smaller. One needs to restart if the tea taken out for the scale turns out to be less than the required amount.

Pro-tip: The unusual Chinese term "prodding" (扦) here is the same one used for taking out samples from grain or tobacco sacks during quality checks at government collection centers.

iv. Sample Weighing

Tea should be slowly sprinkled onto an electric or analog scale. Once the desired weight is reached for a given tea, often 3 grams, the excess should be disposed of and never returned to the inital pile for further sampling. Thus, assessors must be careful to make sure that there is no excess.

iv. Infusion

100°C water should meet your properly weighed tea sample in the standard issue mug. One needs to add the water, put on the lid, and start the timer in one fluid motion. The water needs to reach the absolute of the mug’s brim without pouring out the filtered mouth. For loose white tea, green tea, red tea and yellow tea, you will usually be using a 150 milliliter mug.

 

If one is testing teas from multiple production categories simultaneously, one needs to stagger the infusion time. For example, if a yellow tea and a red tea are being compared side-by-side, the single timer should be set for whichever tea’s infusion time is longer. In this case, the yellow tea’s liquor would need to be poured out with one minute still on the clock, leaving the red tea in until the timer runs out at the five minute mark.

Pro Tips:

-According to one test proctor in Enshi, bottled Wahaha brand water is often used at Chinese testing centers, while there are also some who using specially branded water for tea infusions.

-Ideally, freshly boiled water would be used only. Water that has been boiled again and again can be harder and present greater minerality. More critically, water deoxyenates as it boils. A sample brewed with such water may present less fresh, crisp notes as a consequence of “flat” water.

-Rinse out the mug, spoon, and bowl with hot water prior to the infusion to avoid any lingering flavors and to heat up the teaware such that the cold ceramics do not cool down the tea broth too quickly.

-Pay extra attention to temperature. There is a direct link between water temperature and soluble content presence in the liquor. 80°C water tends to bring out only 80% of the soluble compounds that boiling water can in the same allotted time, while 60 degree water only brews out 45% of total possible content. The solubility of free amino acids and polyphenols is directly proportional to the brewing water temperature. The main components of the flavor of tea broth are bitterness found in tea polyphenols and caffeine, the fresh taste of amino acids, and sweetness of tea sugars and compounds. The bitterness provided caffeine dissolves into the water in less than 2 minutes whenever the water is above 80 degrees. Lower temperatures mean slower absorption. Tea polyphenols also struggle to dissolve at water temperatures below 80 degrees. One would need to use 95℃hot water for 6 minutes to dissolve more than 90% of the polyphenols present in a given tea sample. Amino acids and sugars have a much easier time dissolving at lower temperatures, meaning that a tea infused with 70 or 80 degree water over 4-5 minutes will always present more sweetness and less bitterness.

vi. Liquor Draining

Once the allotted infusion time is met, the soup should be strained out by resting the mug horizontally over the tea liquor assessment bowl. In one fluid motion with one or two hands, press the lid down against the mug and gently flip the mug over the bowl so that the tea can drain out into the bowl. The strained opening should be facing downwards and the lid left on the whole duration so as to prevent leaves from falling into the bowl. 

 

Pro tips:

-Do not let lift the mug or open the lid during the draining process. Taking off the lid could allow aroma to dissipate into the air, affecting the aroma assessment.

-When it appears to have stopped draining, some assessors will give the mug a singular shake over the bowl.

vii. Liquor Assessment

-Assess the color, darkness, and clarity of the liquor that had been poured into the bowl. Using the spoon, gently stir the broth clockwise such that any broken or burnt bits present in the soup accumulate in the middle of the bowl.

Pro tips:

-In cold testing rooms, one should be careful of the “cream down affect” in certain oxidized teas that can make them seem more opaque as tea polyphenols, caffeine, and other compounds rebind in the soup.

-Any largely floating debris on the surface of the soup should be removed with a strainer, and not the spoon.

-Burnt teas in wok or tumbler frying tend to have more leafs that get powderized in the course of production and may not be especially visible until this stage. If there is a lot of black ashen powder at the bottom of the bowl, one may want to look back at the dry leaves and seek further evidence of burning like blistering and discoloration.

-The presence or absence of down in tea liquor , the plant-fiber that coats tender leaves, is not necessarily a mark of quality. It depends on the scoring criteria for individual tea styles. Be aware that if you wipe your teaware down with a paper or cloth towel before assessing and don’t rinse it out first, fibers left behind from the towel may remain in the bowl and be mistaken for down.

viii. Aroma Assessment

Take three whiffs from the mug with your nose pressed up against the edge of the mug. Hold up the mug to your nose, crack open the lid just enough to pull out the aroma with your nose but not so much that the steam all dissipates away at one. Each whiff should last between 2-3 seconds.

Aroma Assessment Temperatures

Pro Tips:

- For the actual scoring assessment of a tea, the warm whiff is what matters most. The hot whiff is too catch strange off notes, while the cold whiff is just to assess the longevity of the aroma, be it good or bad.

-On the hot whiff, write down any unpleasant aromas that assault the nostrils; with the warm whiff, try to typify and categorize the aroma, as well as describing the general notes; upon the cold whiff, write down the relative presence of the aroma and notes that linger.

-When learning, the precise temperature of the mug contents can be assessed with a laser thermometer.

ix. Flavor Assessment 

Flavor should be assessed in respect to strength, thickness, astringency, purity, freshness, and flavor type. The water temperature at this phase should ideally around 50°C.

Use the five milliliter tea spoon to draw soup from the bowl. The tea can be split between smaller tasting cups or directly drunk from the spoon. It is essential that the tea liquor in ones mouth is made to touch every part of the tongue. A second or third taste can be conducted, but it should not take so long that the tea is allowed to cool.

Pro Tips:

-Rinse out your mouth and all equipment with hot water when switching between  different teas.

-When tasting, tea can be either swallowed or spit out. Body and throat sensation are not considered in professional scoring.

-Eat absolutely nothing in between tastings and avoid any strong flavors 24 hours before a tasting session.

x. Dreg Assessment

Dregs, the spent tea leaves after the infusion, are the most telling in regards to pick quality, and can also offer more insight into production mistakes. One is looking at leave size, color, bud-leaf ratio, stem discoloration, the presence of non-tea objects and the wholeness of the leaf.

In formal tea testing, all the leaf matter from the mug will be emptied into a shallow white basin. Once in the basin, cold water is poured in such that the leaves and other matter can open up and be gently stirred or flipped using a tea spoon.

Pro Tips: 

-It is essential that all the stems, broken bits, and other debris present in the cup are moved into the basin out of the cup. Without looking at these broken little bits, one may overscore a damaged tea.

-For many green and red teas made at scale, it is common for producers to mix leaves from several different cultivars into one batch. This means a little variance in the size or color of the dregs may be from that mixing, and not an indiscriminate pick or uneven oxidization. In cases where this is suspected, features like the reddening of stem nodes, venation, leaf shape associated with cultivars popular in a given area also need to be considered to accurately diagnose the problem. 

Scoring

 As one is going through the assessment process, scores are to be written down a piece of paper at each step in the process. The 0-100 point scale are where there is the greatest room for subjectivity is present, especially in more scientific settings when experimental teas are being tried. In most cases, however, a given tea sample has been made to match a certain style. For green and red teas, these styles today almost always are associated with a set of geo-label production standards that are sub-divided into Special Grade (特级), Grade 1(一级), Grade 2(二级), and Grade 3(三级). Official grade reference samples of a given tea are released to producers and tea assessors so they can have a common base line. In a usual session, an assessor may base their scores for different factors like aroma or flavor in comparison to the official reference samples for each grade.

 

 

While it is important to somewhat objectively assign a grade to a given sample tested, the precise score is understood to more of a relative tool when comparing many teas that potentially fall within one grade.

Descriptions are less flexible. They can be given based on the set range of text book answers listed for a given category of processing like green tea or dark tea. When assessing a particular style of tea, like Longjing, Yulu, or Golden Green, as is usually the case, terminology assigned to specific grades of a given style should be used.

An assessor would be expected to be familiar with the descriptions listed for different grades of Longjing listed in document GB/T18650-2009, which can be found online or offline through locally sponsored training programs. Imagining Sample #1 was a perfect Longjing and Sample #2 was a Biluochun right on the edge between Grade 2 and Grade 3, you may write scores and descriptions as shown below.

Next time we will go into the specifics for how green tea is sub-categorized, scored, and described. Thank you for reading!

Sources Consulted

-Cheng Guisheng (Anhui Wuhu Tea Company). 1983. Guanyu Pingcha Luogan Wenti De Chutang Shentan. Tea Communication. (03): p. 41-42.

-Fu Xiaoming. 2013. She Cha Zhuanye Zhicheng Pingshen Dui Chaye JIngji Fazhan Daoxiang Zuoyong Shijian Tansuo -- Yi Anxi Wei Li. Journal of Harbin Vocational & Technical College. 110(04): p. 61-62.

-Wang Fang, Chen Baiwen, Wang Feiquan. 2017. Chaye Pingshen yu Jianyan Kecheng yu Pingchayuan Jianding de Duijie de Tantao. 29(04): 435-437.

-Yang Yajun. 2009. Pingchayuan Peixun Jiaocai. Beijing: JIndun Publishing House.

-Zhang Qinghai. 2019. Chaye Ganguan Shenping JIben Caozuo Liucheng Xijie. 633(19) p.209-211.

-Zhongguo Chaye Xuehui. 1987. Wu Juenong Selected Works. Shanghai: Shanghai Science & Technology Publising House.