How to Write Tea Descriptions

Unless tea is being sniffed or slurped, it cannot speak for itself. Because of this, tea relies heavily on its loving human caretakers to relay its wonders to the world (and potential sippers.) Whether you are creating packaging, a menu, or a website, the descriptions given to your teas can make or break their sales.

We can talk about origin, provenance, health benefits, and other distinctions to describe a tea, but the visceral connection will always be to the palate. To put it more plainly, how does the tea taste?

Tea tasters in the classic sense have their parlance that, while helpful within their small circle, does not connect effectively to the intended audience. We have to take those descriptors and translate them into better-known sensations to convey the wonder of each cup.

Very often, when reading about tea varieties in various media, we are dazzled by the notoriety of a particular tea, but its nuances and texture are frequently overlooked. Describing the taste also helps to manage expectations of the consumer, as novices can confuse varieties or don’t know what to look for when brewing and cupping without an expert present.

When writing descriptions, be sure to use examples of familiar food items to help the consumer understand the tea. One classic association is the lovely, sweet, lightly roasted chestnut notes in a Dragonwell. Even if the reader has never eaten a chestnut, they still might get the idea of what the tea has to offer. Similarly, a good Golden Monkey will offer cocoa notes, hints of black currant, and a red wine-like richness.

Fortunately, the wine industry does a great job of offering a spectrum of taste descriptors from which we can usually borrow various terms. Look at a wine aroma wheel to fill your adjective arsenal.

There is also an ancillary benefit from doing so, in that you will also help your customer build a vocabulary to describe their likes and dislikes better when they ask for suggestions.