Glossary

Agony of the leaves	The relaxation of curled leaves during steeping.
Antioxidant	Antioxidants are substances or nutrients in our foods which can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. They enhance immune defense and therefore lower the risk of cancer and infection.
Aroma	Imparted by its essential oils, it is the characteristic fragrance of brewed teas.
Assam	Known for its strong, deep red brewed color, it is a type of tea grown in the state of Assam, India.
Astringent	The dry taste in the mouth left by teas high in unoxidized polyphenols.
Autumnal	Tea harvested late in the growing season.
Bakey	Overfired teas.
Bergamot	Mixed with black tea to give Earl Grey tea its characteristic flavor, it is the essential oil of the bergamot orange.
Billy	A tin pot used for boiling tea over an open fire.
Biscuity	Tea that has been well fired, often associated with Assam teas.
Black tea	The most common type of tea worldwide. Green tea leaves that have been oxidized or fermented, imparting a characteristic reddish brew.
Blend	A combination of different types of teas for flavor consistency from season to season.
Bloom	The sheen of the tea leaf.
Body	The sense of fullness that the brewed tea imparts.
Bold	Large leaf cut tea.
Brassy	An unpleasant acidic taste associated with improper withering of the tea leaves.
Break	An auction term describing a tea lot for sale.
Brick tea	Tea leaves that have been steamed and compressed into bricks. The bricks are shaved and brewed with butter and salt and served as a soup.
Bright	A light-colored leaf or its resulting bright red brew.
Brisk	A tea that is very astringent and also a Lipton trademark.
Broken	Tea leaves that have been processed through a cutter, reducing leaf size.
Caffeine	A stimulating compound found in tea.
Cambric tea	A weak tea infusion with large proportions of milk and sugar.
Catechins	A class of polyphenol found in high concentrations in green tea, and lower and varied concentrations in black teas.
Ceylon	Teas from Sri Lanka.
Cha	Romanized spelling of the Chinese and Japanese characters for tea.
Chai	Indian term for tea, often short for masala chai, or spiced tea, which is made from strong black tea combined with milk, sugar, and spices.
Chest	A traditional container for shipping tea from the plantation typically made of wood with an aluminum lining.
Chesty	Tea that has taken on the undesirable smell or taste of the wooden chest in which it was shipped.
Chunmee	A grade of curled Chinese tea.
Congou	A general term for Chinese black tea, derived from gongfu, defined below.
Coppery	A reddish infusion associated with black teas of high quality.
CTC	An acronym for Crush, Tear, and Curl which is a manufacturing process to create tea leaves that impart a stronger infusion.
Darjeeling	Darjeeling teas are usually highly astringent. It is tea grown in the Darjeeling region of India near the Himalayas.
Dhool	The coppery, fermenting tea leaf.
Dust	The smallest grade of tea, often used in tea bags because it creates a quick infusion.
Earl Grey	Black tea scented with bergamot.
Fannings	Leaf particles that have been sifted out of high quality teas.
Fermentation	The process of oxidizing green tea leaves to make black and oolong teas.
Fibrous	Teas that contain a high percentage of fannings.
Firing	The process of rapidly heating the tea leaves with hot air or in a wok to stop fermentation and then dry the leaves for a finished product.
Flat	Teas that lack astringency.
Flowery	Tea leaves with light-colored tips.
Flush	The freshly-picked tea leaves including the bud and the top two leaves of the tea plant.
Formosa	Tea produced in Taiwan. Primarily Oolong teas.
Full	A strong, vibrant tea infusion.
Genmaicha	Green tea with toasted rice.
Golden	The orange-colored tips on high quality tea leaves.
Gong fu	A Chinese term meaning performed with care. It describes a style of brewing that involves many repeated short infusions in a small pot.
Grainy	High quality CTC teas.
Green Tea	Traditionally found primarily in China and Japan but becoming increasing popular in the West due to purported health benefits, it is unfermented, dried tea.
Gunpowder	Green tea that has been rolled into pellets which unfurl in hot water to brew.
Gyokuro	A Japanese term meaning pearl dew, referring to green tea produced from shaded plants.
Hard	Pungent tea often positively associated with Assam teas.
Harsh	Bitter teas.
Heavy	Full, deep-colored infusion without astringency.
Hyson	A Chinese term meaning flourishing spring associated with green teas and a brand of tea popular in the eighteenth century.
Iced Tea	Tea brewed and served chilled.
Jasmine	Black Pouchong tea scented with jasmine flowers.
Keemun	Typically hand-rolled and fired, it is black tea from central China.
Lapsang souchong	A Chinese black tea that is fired over a pinewood fire for a characteristically smoky aroma and flavor.
Light	Tea that produces a weak infusion.
Malty	Slightly over-fired tea.
Metallic	The dry taste of some teas.
Muddy	A dull, brownish infusion
Nose	A synonym for aroma.
Oolong	A lightly fermented style of tea typically using larger leaf grades.
Orange pekoe	A grade of large, whole leaf tea. It does not describe flavor.
Orthodox	A processing method that imitates the larger leaf styles of hand-produced teas.
Pan-fired	A term describing that has been fired in a wok.
Pekoe	A grade of small, whole leaf tea, from the Chinese term baihao, which refers to the white hairs of the new buds on the tea plant.
Plain	A dull, sour infusion.
Plucking	The process of harvesting the tea by cutting the flush from the growing tea plant.
Polyphenols	Astringent compounds found in tea.
Pu erh	A type of black tea that has been microbiologically fermented, associated with the Yunnan province of China.
Pungent	Highly astringent tea.
Raw	Bitter tea.
Rolling	The process of crushing the leaves to activate certain enzymes and initiate fermentation which also results in the curled appearance of the final tea leaf.
Self-drinking	Full-bodied tea that does not need to be blended.
Smoky	Teas fired over an open fire, resulting in exposure to wood smoke.
Soft	Under fermented tea.
Souchong	Large leaf teas harvested from the third and fourth leaf of the tea plant.
Stalk	Teas that contain pieces of stalk from poor plucking.
Tannin	A misleading term referring to tea polyphenols which are different than the tannic acid polyphenols associated with other plants such as grapes.
Tarry	Smoky teas, defined above.
Tat	A wire mesh or burlap apparatus used to lay the leaves out for withering and fermentation
Theaflavins	Orange-red potyphenols unique to fermented black teas and a compound formed from catechins.
Theanine	An amino acid unique to tea.
Theine	A synonym for caffeine.
Ti kuan yin	An especially dark and fragrant type of Oolong tea meaning iron goddess of mercy.
Tippy	High quality teas differentiated by the white or golden tips of the leaves.
Tisane	Herbal tea. Teas produced from the leaves of plants other than the tea plant.
Tuocha	A type of brick tea using Pu Erh Tea pressed into a bowl-shaped brick.
Twist	See Rolling.
Two and a bud	The part of the tea plant that is typically harvested. The top two leaves and the bud.
White	A type of very light green tea. The term refers to the white hairs on the picked tea bud.
Winey	Aged, mellow teas as with some Keemun teas.
Withering	The process of allowing the fresh leaves to dry after plucking before fermentation.
Woody	An unpleasant hay taste in black tea.
Yixing	Pronounced ee-hsing, a region in China known for its purple clay and the unglazed teapots produced from it.
Yunnan	Spicy tea grown in the Yunnan province in the southwest of China.

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