Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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e all know what leads to great-tasting tea—high- quality leaf, proper dosage, correct water tempera- ture and the perfect steeping time. But recently some in the industry have added another factor to the list: picking the properly shaped cup. That notion may induce some serious eye rolling. I can hear the cry of cynics already: The cup affects flavor? Puh-lease. Now, surely, the shape of the vessel used while tasting has nowhere near the impact that, say, the grade of tea does. But on some level, there's good reason to vet your vessel. As the wine industry has matured, more importance has been placed on choosing the right glass to suit a particular vino. Many connoisseurs in that world prefer the Riedel tulip-shaped glass because of its ability to capture the volatiles that evapo- rate from a wine. The glass truly does allow the taster to sense notes that he or she would otherwise miss. It's a subtle sensa- tion, of course, but for those of us who delve into tasting, the subtleties are the most interesting part. So let's investigate the idea of how dif- ferent tea cups can influence the tasting experience. Does the same tea taste dif- ferent when drunk from different shaped vessels? Are traditional shapes the best? Tea buffs are eager to get the best from the teas we drink, which means we owe it to ourselves—and the teas—to at least experiment in this realm. NOTE THE NOSE Let's first understand how we taste. Though we often talk about the effect that different teas have on our palates and in our mouths, our noses also play a very impor- tant part in experiencing flavor. Most of us have around 10,000 taste receptors in our mouths (it varies person to person). Guess how many we have in our noses? Twenty- five million. Clearly, the better our access to a tea's aroma, the better we'll be able to fully taste it. When we eat or drink, whatever we're consuming touches tiny hairs on receptor cells, and those cells send messages to the brain. As air passes through our noses, chemicals in that air dissolve in the watery layer on the inside of the nasal cavities, and the hairs on the receptors detect the chemicals and send more messages to the brain. The brain collects all the messages and works out what the smell or taste is—and whether or not we enjoy whatever we're taking in. Without the aroma receptors in our nose, we would lose most of the taste of the teas we sip. Tasters slurp tea quickly for two reasons. First, they're making sure the tea is delivered to all parts of the mouth so the receptor cells on the tongue can assess it. Secondly, they are quickly delivering the tea to the back of the mouth so that the tea's aroma travels up through the back of the nose to also be assessed by those millions of receptors in the nasal cavities. A MATTER OF DISTRIBUTION Delivering the tea to the right parts of Just as many wine connoisseurs prefer the Riedel tulip- shaped glass because of its ability to capture the volatiles that evaporate from a wine, tea drinkers are appreciating certain vessels for their ability to hold the aroma for longer. the mouth and nose is key to our enjoyment and assessment of each different tea, and the shape of the cup, bowl or glass we drink from will deliver the tea differently into our mouths. A narrow-necked vessel such as a tulip wine glass will deliver tea more quickly to the back of the mouth. This can cause the liquor to miss some of the taste buds along the edges of the tongue, but the upside is that the liquid will reach the retro-nasal area more quickly. A bowl like a Gaiwan—with a rim that curves slightly outward—will deliver the liquor to the front of the mouth. A traditional cup will distribute the tea more generously all over the tongue. The slower the tea reaches all the taste buds and the back of the mouth, the slower the taste receptors and the brain are able to analyze the tea, so it makes sense that we really will perceive a tea somewhat differently based on what vessel we're using. Just as many wine connoisseurs prefer the Riedel tulip-shaped glass because of its ability to capture the volatiles that evapo- rate from a wine, tea drinkers are appreciat- ing certain vessels for their ability to hold the aroma for longer. With this in mind, U.K. ceramicist Peter Ting recently designed three different tasting cups and brought them to the attention of U.S. tea profes- sionals at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas this past June. The Green Tea Cup has an outward-curving rim similar to a Gaiwan, the Tulip Cup is narrow at the top and bulbous like a wine glass, and the Black Tea Cup is similar to a traditional bowl-like tea cup. During a tasting seminar that used these cups, participants were given six teas to taste in each type of vessel. The general continued on page 50 Fresh Cup Magazine 49 MICKE NORDIN