What does it mean to have a sweet aftertaste when tasting tea? Do all good teas have a sweet aftertaste?

Most people drink tea just like water, but tea lovers and tea experts pay attention to savoring it carefully. Therefore, there is a professional term called "aftertaste" to describe the feeling when tasting tea. So what does "aftertaste" mean? Does good tea have a aftertaste?

What does it mean to have a sweet aftertaste when tasting tea?

The sweet aftertaste of tea refers to the sweet aftertaste between the lips, teeth and throat after drinking the tea soup. The sweet aftertaste of good tea can last for 1-2 hours. During this process, the whole mouth is sweet, like a refreshing breeze from the mountains, constantly lingering in the mouth. This feeling can only be understood but not described.

It takes a certain amount of time for the sweetness to come back, and the length of time depends on whether the tea is of high quality. When the sweetness comes back, it will taste bitter at first, but as time goes by and you taste it carefully, the sweetness will gradually increase and replace the bitterness. "It tastes slightly bitter at first, but the aftertaste is sweet." The sweetness usually appears more often in Pu'er raw tea.

Does good tea always have a sweet aftertaste?

Generally speaking, the sweet aftertaste of tea comes from the bitterness of tea. The sweet aftertaste can be used as one of the bases for identifying a good tea, but it cannot occupy the entire position. It is also necessary to uniformly identify it based on multiple factors. However, if a tea does not even have the sweet aftertaste, then we can say with certainty that this tea can only be regarded as an ordinary tea, not a good tea. In addition, the sweet aftertaste should be deep and long-lasting. If the sweet aftertaste is very weak, it can only be regarded as an ordinary tea.

The sweet aftertaste of good tea can last for 1-2 hours. During this time, your whole mouth will feel sweet, like a refreshing mountain breeze lingering in your mouth. This feeling can only be felt but not described.

If the tea tastes bitter, the bitter taste is acceptable to people, and the bitterness will not last long and will turn into sweetness; if the tea tastes astringent, the astringency should not stick to the palate, teeth or lips, and it should not stay at the base of the tongue for long and can be transformed and produce saliva; if the tea soup tastes light, the sides of the tongue feel astringent and numb, and the bitterness does not go away for a long time, then it is not a good tea.

What are the teas with long aftertaste?

The sweet aftertaste is mainly due to the reaction between tea polyphenols in tea and proteins in oral saliva, which makes the tea soup fresh, thick and smooth. The content of tea polyphenols in different teas is different, and the degree of sweet aftertaste is also different.

Everyone has different sensitivity to taste. Generally, teas with a longer aftertaste include:

Raw

Most people who drink raw Pu'er like the sweet aftertaste after the bitterness is gone. The first sip is clear and sweet, and after each sip of bitterness, the throat becomes sweet, the throat rhyme is deep, and the sweet fragrance lingers, making you unable to stop.

Tieguanyin

The charm of the often-mentioned Tieguanyin is that the high-quality Tieguanyin or the traditional craftsmanship of the old Tieguanyin has a long aftertaste, a fragrance on the cheeks, and a mellow, sweet and fresh tea soup with endless charm;

black tea

The characteristics of black tea are warm, sweet, rich and mellow. It has a very refreshing taste, a long-lasting aftertaste, and a sweet taste in the mouth. It feels like the taste of mountain spring water.