What is a tea tasting wheel? Read to learn more.

Part of the Tea 101 course with the Academy of Tea, Canada, was the tea tasting portion. It’s hard to describe the flavour and aroma of a tea with a vocabulary. All teas taste the same, almost, unless they are very distinct. But even then, the words aren’t always there to describe the taste. This tea tasting wheel was mentioned during the course and it’s great. It gives a words to all those flavours your’re tasting and if not, then at least it gets you thinking along the lines of the flavours you’re tasting. Sweet just is sweet until you are reminded of the flavour of candy, burnt sugar, molasses, caramel, malty candies and more. Now you start thinking about caramelized sugars, and onions and more. You’d never think of smokey as a taste until it’s brought to your attention then you think of bbq’s, the ashy taste you get from a burnt bbq’d marshmallow. This wheel is great a tool when starting out on tea tasting.

Vegetal
- Grass
  - grass
  - freshly cut grass
  - grass seed
  - barnyard
  - stems
  - straw
- Wood
  - Pine
  - cedar
  - cherry wood
  - green wood
  - dark wood
  - saw dust
  - camphor
  - resin
  - bark
- Earth
  - peat
  - moss
  - wet wood
  - wet earth
  - leather
  - forest floor
  - decaying wood
  - compost
  - musty
- Mineral
  - metallic
  - wet rocks
  - salt
- Marine
  - seaweed
  - sea air
  - fish
- Vegetables
  - garden peas
  - green pepper
  - asparagus
Fruity
- Berries
- Raspberry
- strawberry
- blackberry
- black currant

Citrus
- orange
- lemon
- grapefruit
- citrus zest
Tree Fruit
- Green apple
- red apple
- banana
- peach
- apricot
- pear
- dried fruit
Tropical
- melon
- lychee
- pineapple
Floral
- Jasmine
- lilac
- orchid
- honeysuckle
- cherry blossom
- orange blossom
- rose
- dandelion
- violet
- geranium
- hops
- perfume
Nutty
- almond
- peanut
- walnut
- chestnut
- hazelnut
- roasted nuts
Sweet
- honey
- maple syrup
- malt
- nectar
- caramel
- molasses
- burnt sugar
- candy
Spicy
- fennel
- saffron
- liquorice
- cinnamon
- eucalyptus
- cardamon
- coriander seed
- white pepper
- black pepper
- vanilla
- menthol
- nutmeg
- parsley
- thyme
- clove
Smokey
- ash
- tar
- smoke
- cocoa

References:

How to taste Tea, URL: https://www.twinings.co.uk/about-tea/how-to-taste-tea
Tea 101, Academy of Tea, URL: https://academyoftea.org/tea101/

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Lani and Norm

I enjoy learning and sharing that knowledge.Sharing has been in many forms over the years, as a teaching assistant, university lecturer, Pilates instructor, math tutor and just sharing with friends and family.Throughout, summarizing what I have learnt in words has always been there and continues to through blog posts, articles, video and the ever growing forms of content out there!