Tea Glossary
57 terms in plain English — what each one actually means, where it comes from, and why it matters in the cup.
57 terms
A
Afternoon tea
A British light meal of tea with sandwiches and cakes, taken mid-afternoon. Popularised in the 1840s to bridge the long gap between lunch and a late dinner.
Assam
Tea from the lowland Brahmaputra valley in northeast India. Typically full-bodied, malty and brisk — the backbone of most English breakfast blends.
Astringency
The drying, slightly puckering sensation tea leaves in the mouth — a tactile feeling rather than a taste. Often confused with bitterness, which is a flavour.
B
Black tea
Fully oxidised tea, dark in both leaf and liquor. Known in China as hong cha, "red tea", after the colour of the brew rather than the leaf.
Body
How substantial the liquid feels — thin and watery through to thick and coating. Independent of how strong the flavour is.
Briskness
A lively, clean sharpness, most often used of black teas. A brisk cup feels refreshing rather than flat.
C
Camellia sinensis
The evergreen plant every true tea comes from. Green, white, oolong, black and pu-erh are all the same species — the differences come from how the leaf is processed after picking, not from different plants.
Ceylon
Tea from Sri Lanka, still traded under the island's former name. Character varies sharply with elevation, from light and floral high-grown to robust low-grown.
Cha qi
A traditional Chinese concept describing the felt presence or energy of a tea, discussed by drinkers particularly in relation to aged pu-erh. A cultural and subjective idea rather than a measurable one.
Chanoyu
The Japanese tea ceremony — a choreographed preparation of matcha shaped by centuries of practice. Studied as a discipline in its own right, often for a lifetime.
Chasen
A whisk carved from a single piece of bamboo into dozens of fine tines, used to blend matcha with water into a smooth suspension.
Chashaku
A slender bamboo scoop for measuring matcha from its caddy into the bowl.
Chawan
The wide, deep bowl matcha is whisked and drunk from. Its width gives the whisk room to move.
Cold brew
Steeping leaf in cold water for several hours in the fridge. The low temperature extracts less of the compounds behind bitterness and astringency, giving a sweeter, softer result.
CTC
Crush, Tear, Curl — a machine process that reduces leaf to uniform granules. Brews fast and strong, which is why it dominates teabags.
D
Darjeeling
Tea grown in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal, India. High elevation and a short growing season give it a light body and a distinctive muscatel note.
Decoction
Simmering ingredients in water rather than steeping them off the boil. Used for roots, bark and spices — and for masala chai, which is boiled rather than infused.
E
Earl Grey
Black tea scented with oil of bergamot, a citrus grown mainly in Calabria. Named after a 19th-century British prime minister, though the origin story is almost certainly apocryphal.
F
Finish
What remains after swallowing, and for how long. A long finish evolves in the mouth; a short one disappears immediately.
First flush
The first picking of the season, taken after the plant's winter dormancy. Prized for delicacy and concentration, and priced accordingly.
Fixing
Applying heat — steaming, pan-firing or baking — to deactivate the enzymes that drive oxidation. Known in Chinese as shaqing, "kill-green".
G
Gaiwan
A Chinese lidded bowl used to brew and pour. The lid holds the leaf back while decanting and doubles as a way to catch and read the aroma.
Genmaicha
Green tea blended with roasted brown rice, some of which pops like popcorn during roasting. Originally a way to make a modest amount of leaf go further.
Gongfu cha
A Chinese method using a high leaf-to-water ratio and many very short infusions, so a single leaf is tasted as it changes across a session. The name means something like "tea with skill" or "with effort".
Green tea
Tea whose oxidation is halted early, usually by steaming or pan-firing within hours of picking. Keeps the leaf green and the flavour closer to the fresh plant — grassy, vegetal, sometimes sweet.
Gyokuro
A Japanese green tea shaded from direct sun for several weeks before picking. The shading raises the leaf's amino acid content and produces a notably savoury, low-astringency brew.
H
Hojicha
Japanese green tea roasted over charcoal or in a porcelain pan until it turns reddish-brown. Roasting drives off much of the grassiness and leaves a toasty, nutty character.
Huigan
A Chinese tasting term for the sweetness that returns at the back of the throat after swallowing, sometimes well after. Literally "returning sweetness".
I
Ichigo ichie
A phrase associated with Japanese tea practice, usually rendered "one time, one meeting" — the idea that a given gathering can never be repeated exactly, so it deserves full attention.
J
Jasmine tea
Green tea scented by layering it with fresh jasmine blossoms overnight, sometimes repeatedly over several nights. The flowers are removed; only the aroma stays.
K
Kyusu
A Japanese teapot, most recognisably the side-handled form, usually with a built-in mesh for fine-leaf teas like sencha.
L
Liquor
The brewed tea itself. Tasters describe its colour, clarity and body — nothing to do with alcohol.
M
Masala chai
Black tea simmered with milk, sugar and spices — commonly cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, clove and pepper. "Chai" simply means tea; the spices are the masala.
Matcha
Shade-grown Japanese green tea, dried and stone-ground to a fine powder. It is whisked into water rather than steeped and strained, so you drink the leaf itself.
O
Oolong
Partially oxidised tea, sitting anywhere between green and black. The category covers an enormous range, from pale and floral to dark and roasted, depending on how far oxidation was taken.
Orthodox
Tea processed so the leaf stays largely intact, whether by hand or by machines that mimic hand-rolling. Contrasted with CTC.
Oxidation
The enzymatic browning that begins when a leaf is bruised and exposed to air — the same reaction that darkens a cut apple. How far it is allowed to go is what separates green from oolong from black.
P
Post-fermentation
Microbial action on finished tea, as distinct from oxidation, which is enzymatic. This is what makes pu-erh and other dark teas change over years of storage.
Pu-erh
Tea from Yunnan, China, that undergoes microbial fermentation after drying. Sheng (raw) pu-erh ages slowly over years; shou (ripe) pu-erh is fermented deliberately to compress that process. Often pressed into cakes.
R
Rinse
A brief first infusion that is poured away rather than drunk, used mainly with compressed and aged teas to open the leaf and warm the vessels.
Rolling
Shaping and bruising the withered leaf to rupture its cells, releasing the juices that oxidation acts on. Also what gives tea its twisted, pelleted or curled forms.
Rooibos
A tisane from the needle-like leaves of a South African shrub, naturally caffeine-free. Oxidised to a deep red, or left "green" for a lighter, grassier cup.
S
Samovar
A heated metal urn used across Russia, Iran and Turkey to keep water hot all day. A small pot of strong concentrate sits on top and is diluted to taste.
Second flush
The summer picking. In Darjeeling it is the one most associated with muscatel character, and is often fuller-bodied than the spring crop.
Sencha
The everyday green tea of Japan and the majority of its production. Steamed rather than pan-fired, giving a brisk, grassy cup.
Single origin
Tea from one garden, estate or region rather than blended across several. Blending is for consistency; single origin is for showing what one place tastes like.
Steeping
Holding leaf in hot water long enough to extract it. Time, temperature and leaf quantity are the three levers — change one and you change the cup.
T
Tea garden
The estate where tea is grown and usually processed. "Garden" is the standard term in India and Sri Lanka, where a single one may cover thousands of acres.
Terroir
Borrowed from wine: the way soil, altitude, climate and local practice leave their mark on a crop. Two gardens on the same hillside can produce recognisably different tea.
Tisane
An infusion made from something other than Camellia sinensis — peppermint, chamomile, rooibos, ginger. Commonly called "herbal tea", though it contains no tea leaf.
U
Umami
The savoury, brothy quality found especially in shaded Japanese greens such as gyokuro. Recognised as a basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
W
Wabi-sabi
A Japanese aesthetic finding beauty in the imperfect, weathered and unfinished. In tea it shows up in rough, asymmetric bowls favoured over flawless ones.
Western brewing
The familiar approach: a small amount of leaf, a large pot, and one long steep. Produces one cup per batch, where gongfu produces many.
White tea
The least handled of the true teas — typically just withered and dried, with no rolling or pan-firing. Often made from young buds still covered in fine silver down.
Withering
The first step after picking: leaves are spread out to lose moisture and become pliable enough to roll without shattering.
Y
Yellow tea
A rare Chinese category, made like green tea but with an added slow smothering step that mellows the grassiness. Produced in small quantities and seldom exported.
Yixing clay
Unglazed purple-sand clay from Jiangsu, China, made into small teapots. Because it is porous, a pot gradually takes on the character of what is brewed in it — so one pot is usually kept for one kind of tea.
Definitions describe what a tea is and where it comes from — not what it does for your health. See our disclaimer.