The Cooking Inn : Tea Terminology B PageSelect an item from the list to go to it's site
Baggy:
An unpleasant taste, normally resulting from the tea being carried or wrapped in unlined hessian bags.
Bakey:
An over-fired tea with the result that too much moisture has been driven off the leaf while drying.
Ball Tea:
China tea compressed in a ball to protect it against atmospheric changes.
Basket-fired :
Japan tea that has been cured in baskets by firing or drying.
Billy Tea :
Tea made by Australian bushmen in billy cans.
Biscuity :
A pleasant aroma often found in well-fired Assam.
Bitter:
An unpleasant taste associated with raw teas.
Bitter Tea :
Tea brewing method used in Cashmere. Tea is boiled in a tinned copper vessel, red potash, aniseed and salt are added before it is served from a brass or copper, tinlined teapot.
Black:
A black appearance is desirable preferably with 'bloom'.
Black Tea :
Tea that has been fired or dried after the fermentation or oxidisation period of manufacture.
Blackish :
A satisfactory appearance for CTC type teas. Denotes careful sorting.
Blend:
Tea taster who decides on the proportions of each different tea required to produce the flavour of a given blend.
Bloom :
A sign of good manufacture and sorting (where reduction of leaf has taken place before firing) a 'sheen' that has not been lost through over-handling or over-sorting.
Body :
A liquor having both fullness and strength as opposed to being thin.
Bohea :
Tea from the Wu-i Hills in Fukien, China. Originally was applied to black China tea and to tea from Indonesia. In the 18th century Bohea (Bo-hee) was the name given to the tea drink.
Bold :
Particles of leaf which are too large for the particular grade.
Bonoset Leaves :
A North Amercian herb, formely used much in medicine; leaves used to make tea.
Brassy :
Unpleasant metallic quality similar to brass. Usually associated with unwithered tea.
Break :
An amount of tea, comprising a given number of chests or sacks of tea.
Brick Tea :
Common grades of China and Japan tea mixed with stalk and dust and moulded into bricks under high pressure. Originally, these bricks were used by Asian travellers as a convenient way of carrying the tea they needed to drink and the bricks were also used to barter for other goods.
Bright :
A lively bright appearance, which usually indicates that the tea will produce a bright liquor. Or, Denotes a lively fresh tea with good keeping quality.
Brisk :
The most 'live' characteristic. Results from good manufacture.
Broken Orange Pekoe :
BOP, black tea comprising broken segments of somewhat coarser leaf, without tip. Can be applied to both Orthodox and CTC teas.
Broker:
A tea taster who negotiates the selling of tea from producers, or the buying of tea for packers and dealers, for a brokerage fee from the party on whose behalf the broker is working.
Brown :
A brown appearance in CTC type teas that normally indicates overly harsh treatment of leaf.
Burned :
Taint caused by extreme over drying during manufacture.
Butter Tea :
Boiled tea mixed with salt and soda, then strained into an urn containing butter and dried ground cereal (often barley) and churned. Butter tea is served in a basin and often a lump of butter is added when serving. It was served in Tibet and then in India.
