Tea TastingÂ
The flavor of tea is a complex perception. There is a certain flavor dynamic. What is meant by the dynamics of flavor? Most teas can be described as having a foreground flavor, middle ground flavor and background flavor. These combine to produce a profile, a "flavor profile". For example, there is a "flavor profile" into which all Darjeeling's will fall simply because they are Darjeelings or all Keemuns or all Yunnans or all Assams, etc. The reason is because all of the individual leaves of each growing region are basically identical. However, a well-balanced profile of each growing region falls within specific profile outlines. An unbalanced profile looks ragged (somewhat like a saw blade) and therefore becomes somewhat less than pleasant to drink. This unbalanced profile can be caused by many things: low altitude, improper pluck, poor processing, bad manufacturing, exposure to water or excessive moisture, to name a few. Tea is like the little girl: when it is good it is very, very good and when it is bad it is horrid.
Flavor is a combination of two sensory perceptions: taste and odor or aroma. The first part of the flavor duo of taste and aroma is perceived by the taste buds and other sensory tissues on the tongue. It is this area which perceives non-volatile stimuli such as: salt, sweet, acid (sour) and bitter. (Occasionally considered also as a functional perception is the taste sensation of metallic, but this may also be caused by medication, metals used to fill dental carries and several other extraneous causes.) These taste buds are generally located in very specific areas on the tongue (sweet in front, salt next and along the sides, acid (sour) next and along the sides, bitter in the rear and from side to side covering the back of the tongue). However, all types of taste buds can be found located sparsely throughout the tongue's entire surface.