About Tea Tasting

Series Summary

Tea is characterized as the most mystical and healing of all the beverages. With the variety of flavors, tea seems to perfect drink for any occasion. As Chinese legend describes, tea originated by divine intervention. A legendary emperor was sitting in the grass sometime around 2737 B.C. As he was pondering life, he drank a bowl of boiling water when all of a sudden leaves blew into his bowl. When he looked down, he noticed that the water had started to change color. The ever inquisitive and curious monarch took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and its restorative properties. However, due to the desire that tea arouses, one creation myth can not possibly be enough to explain the beginnings of tea. Another legend claims that the founder of the Zen school of Buddhism discovered the beverage. Regardless of truth to these myths, tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative and a symbol of status.

In this free video series, become a sommelier of tea! Our expert, Matt Graham, shows you how to taste tea the right way. Also known as tea cupping, there is a lot to evaluate in tea. Learn how to look at loose leaf tea. Also, get tips for creating weak infusions to assess the tea's color and appearance. Matt shows you how to slip and smell your tea as well. So, if you want to really get the most out of your cup of tea, watch this free video series today!

Video Transcript

"Now, we're going to talk about cupping tea, and what I mean by cupping tea, is tasting, evaluating, examining tea in a very intentional manner. Usually cupping is done by tea buyers, tea connoisseurs, people who are blending teas, and just tea affectionados in general, so tea cupping is a tradition that is very closely associated with wine tasting, in that.the people who are doing the cupping, will ascribe many different adjectives to the flavor, the appearance, and the overall quality of the tea. Now things that people look for when they're cupping tea, is the appearance, the texture, and the aroma of the dry tea leaves. They look at a weak infusion of the tea leaves, that is, just adding a little water to them, and the aroma and appearance of those tea leaves, and then they steep the tea, and look at the liqueur, or the steep tea itself, and also take in the aroma, and finally, taste the tea, and evaluate the flavor, and other characteristics of the tasted tea, itself."