I like taking ‘notes’ about my tea, even when I don’t
necessarily write them down I’m paying enough attention to it and describe it
to myself in my head. I felt that often several teas didn’t exactly tasted like
they were advertised to taste or how I expected based on recommendations.
Usually because the way they are described is by using direct comparisons to
foods/tastes that generalize taste that most can relate to. And frankly even
though tea can resemble many flavors, it does it in its peculiar way.
 |
I’m usually a sucker
for ‘nutty’, ‘roasted’, ‘caramel’, ‘honey’, ’chocolate’, ‘cocoa’, etc. I’ve
tried my share that claimed to taste like some sort of chocolate. In the end,
they all tasted very different from each other and only a handful tasted
somewhat like ‘chocolate’ to me. Is it false advertisement!? No, at least not
necessarily. ‘Taste’ is a subjective thing. Specific tastes/notes are subject
to your past experiences with the thing that is being described. There's an
unlimited amount of examples to better explain it, but I’ll take what I believe
to be the most common.
 |
| 32% chocolate, 71% cacao, 85% cacao and Cocoa beans |
Chocolate (milk vs. dark) and Cocoa, are used interchangeably to describe
similar but not equal tastes. If you love chocolate you know that you can grab two bars of different brands with the ‘same’ percentage of cocoa and have them taste completely
different. The way that chocolate classifications are done it leaves LOTS of
space for different experiences even if they are equal in the label. If you
grew up with a particular brand, type or even country of origin, chocolate
taste will mean something somewhat different to you. To make things more
complex we each choose traits that we pay the most attention to, that’s why
sometimes sharing something you like can bring a new perspective on it.
 |
| Peanuts, Almonds and Pistachios |
The same goes for ‘smoky’ or ‘tobacco’. Most people interchange
the two but they are not that closely tied, tobacco imparts complexity and a sort or
heaviness in taste, smoky is a more general term that seems more fitting in most cases. The same thing happens with
nutty, the term on its own holds up pretty well but when someone uses specific
nuts to describe something and I try the tea I end up being let down (Pistachio
is the main culprit here).
 |
| Himalayan rock salt, Yunnan Clay, River stones and a rock. |
The most interesting taste to me is mineral/rocks. This is
the hardest to get used to because there is a limited number of minerals you
can try in unadulterated form. And well rocks… what shocks me, is how I can easily agree
with the taste when I drink a high quality Phoenix Oolong and yet I haven’t stopped
to lick a rock… or so I thought. A few years ago I bought Whiskey rocks, and
well they taste like rocks lol. In fact, if you ever feel like you want to know what 'rock' taste is like, I'd recommend Whiskey rocks; as for mineral, rock salt is a good place to go.
After some time, I realized that tea notes come from each
person’s experience with life rather than with tea alone. Tea triggers the
memories in your mind and looks for similarities. Tea tastes of memories! The
more you have in your ‘arsenal’ the more you will enjoy your tea. Try new
things, revisit old ones. Things will taste different when you pay attention to
them and tea in turn will more enjoyable.
