Tea tasting: undesirable tastes

We humans can experience six different tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salt, umami, and oleogustus. The first three tastes are discussed on the page about taste because they are the tastes relevant to appreciation of good tea. The last three tastes are not generally considered in tea tasting. If you detect them in the tea you are drinking, there is something wrong but it is not the tea.

Salt is desirable in many foods, but in tea is generally undesirable because it is going to make the beverage less refreshing. If you are detecting salt in your tea, most likely it is because the water you are using contains it, or because your equipment is contaminated. The pure experience of saltiness in its pure form is given by putting a little table salt on the tongue.

Umami is a highly desirable taste, but we do not expect umami in tea. It is generally described as the taste of meat, but other foods carry it, too. Mushrooms carry a lot of umami, so their addition to a broth adds richness. Soy sauce is a condiment we use mainly because it adds umami. The pure experience of umami is given by putting a little MSG (monosodium glutamate) on the tongue. This is not pleasant by itself, but in small quantities in the context of many foods, it is desirable. If you detect umami in your tea, it is probably because your brewing equipment is not clean.

Oleogustus is the taste that is associated with rancid fat. It is hard to think of any context in which oleogustus is desirable. At least in western European tradition, if we detect oleogustus it is the signal for us to throw away the food. Tea does not contain any fat, so if you detect oleogustis in the tea you are drinking, it is probably because your brewing equipment is not clean.

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