I’ve been thinking about how to enhance your tea tasting.
There’s an underappreciated way to improve your ability to have a fuller tasting experience and clearer communication about tea. Simply put, it is increasing your exposure to a wider range of foods!
Develop your palate by tasting lots of different foods—different fruits, vegetables, spices, etc. I can’t say something tastes like a ripe persimmon, for example, unless I’ve tried a ripe persimmon. The same goes for understanding tasting notes. If I don’t have a point of experience with a food or flavor, a tasting note that references it doesn’t tell me anything.
I was thinking about this issue of enhanced tea tasting after trying burdock root tea for the first time last month (and many times since then). Before I tried it in a tisane, I didn’t understand the tasting note on a white tea I have that included “sweet, earthy like burdock.” If you grew up eating more East Asian cuisine, you may already be familiar with this flavor. But, somehow, I wasn’t.
Interestingly, exposure to a flavor over time can change our enjoyment of it. The first time I ate cilantro, decades ago, I did NOT like it. It kept showing up in food I otherwise liked, so I learned to tolerate a tiny bit of it. Over time and with exposure, I’ve come to LOVE cilantro. Lots and lots of it! (I know cilantro is one of those controversial flavors. I’m not saying this will work for everyone or that we all have to learn to love every flavor.)
You can still enhance your tea tasting without loving every food, of course!