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All six flavor wheels for Taiwan teas are now complete, and the detailed vocabulary helps distinguish Taiwan teas from Chinese and Vietnamese teas

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All six flavor wheels for Taiwan teas are now complete! Effectively distinguishing Taiwan teas from Chinese and Vietnamese teas, the detailed vocabulary helps consumers find their tea

The Tea Research and Extension Station (TRES) has launched flavor wheels for Taiwan's specialty teas, and today (the 21st) all six flavor wheels are finally complete! In order to make it easier for consumers to "find their tea," TRES introduced tea flavor wheels. Following the launch in January of the light-aroma strip-shaped pouchong tea, the roasted-aroma ball-shaped oolong tea, and Taiwan black tea, after half a year TRES has now developed the Taiwan green tea, light-aroma ball-shaped oolong tea, and Oriental Beauty tea flavor wheels, completing the flavor map of Taiwan's specialty teas.

Su Tsung-chen, director of TRES, stated that Taiwan's annual tea exports amount to about 10,000 metric tons, and nearly all of it is specialty tea. With these additions, the flavor wheels for all of Taiwan's specialty teas are now complete, which can effectively distinguish Taiwan's specialty teas from Chinese and Vietnamese teas and is even more advantageous for exporting Taiwan's specialty teas. The export targets for Taiwan tea are Europe and Japan, and in the second half of the year different language versions of the flavor wheels will be produced to facilitate exports.

Photo by Lin Yi-chun

In 2017 there was already a Sun Moon Lake black tea flavor wheel; this year it has been expanded to six major specialty teas across Taiwan

Su Tsung-chen stated that there are many specialty teas throughout Taiwan, and there are many tea tree cultivars across the island. Because of differences in growing altitude, climate, and hydrological conditions, they have different terroir characteristics, which in turn give rise to different tea types. The common classification of tea is by degree of fermentation, and it can be further divided by processing into 6 major specialty teas: Taiwan green tea, Oriental Beauty tea, light-aroma strip-shaped oolong, high-mountain oolong tea (light-aroma ball-shaped), roasted ball-shaped oolong (Tieguanyin, red oolong, Dongding oolong), and Taiwan black tea.

Flavor wheels have long been used in coffee evaluation for many years. In order to market Taiwan black tea abroad more systematically, TRES cooperated with industry in 2017 to launch the Sun Moon Lake black tea flavor wheel. At that time, the flavor wheel was categorized by color, aroma, and taste. Starting last year, based on this flavor wheel, TRES expanded the scope of evaluation to specialty teas from all over Taiwan.

Su Tsung-chen explained that the flavor wheels were introduced to make it easier for consumers to find their tea, so they no longer need to be constrained by the specialized terminology of professional evaluation, reducing the information gap between consumers, tea farmers, and tea merchants. Through the flavor wheels, consumers can see the flavor characteristics of the tea in front of them "at a glance."

Image source / TRES briefing

On January 20 of this year, TRES had already launched three flavor wheels, and half a year later it launched three more. Su Tsung-chen stated that this means the flavor wheels for Taiwan tea are all now in place, and the flavor wheels are also integrated with Taiwan tea's classification and grading system TAGs. Evaluation experts can use the vocabulary on the wheels to grade tea by flavor. They have already been applied to domestic competitions for fine tea, such as the organic tea grading and evaluation held for the first time this year. It is estimated that the application of the flavor wheels can raise the price of competition tea by 30%.

Flavor cards produced after tea districts actually used the flavor wheels (photo by Lin Yi-chun)

Flavor wheels summarized by TRES experts from 495 tea samples from all over the country and revised by tea farmers

Domestic tea districts each occupy their own mountain strongholds, and the tea in the cup has its own merits. Even if all are oolong tea, from north to south, and from west to east, the taste is different. Do the flavor wheels cover teas from all regions of Taiwan? And how were the teas of each region made into flavor wheels? Dr. Chiu Chui-feng, deputy director of TRES, explained that work on the flavor wheels began last year, using competition tea samples from each tea district, and experts at TRES evaluated and summarized them one by one.

"Taiwan tea is impressive; few countries offer different teas from north to south." The six flavor wheels came from 495 tea samples, evaluated and summarized by more than twenty experts at TRES. Chiu Chui-feng explained that the distance between experts and consumers lies in the fineness of sensory perception. Taking Wenshan pouchong tea as an example, he said, "Ordinary people smell floral fragrance; experts can identify what kind of flower's fragrance it is."

 

Image source / TRES briefing

Chiu Chui-feng stated that the perception of smell and taste is quite subjective, so if most experts can detect a characteristic, it will be included first. After the first round of assessment, staff at TRES who do not drink tea will be asked to help revise it, and after the flavor wheel is established, tea farmers will also be asked to evaluate it. It is only released after repeated revisions.

The flavor wheels have circles of different colors and sizes. Su Tsung-chen explained that the colors on the flavor wheels are made by comparing the tea liquid with a color chart. The closer to the inner ring on the wheel, the more it represents the main characteristics. Taking the Oriental Beauty launched this time as an example, Oriental Beauty has an obvious fruity aroma, so it is marked in the inner ring, while the farther out the ring, the more detailed the description of Oriental Beauty tea's aroma, such as green fruit, ripe fruit, dried fruit, and so on. "Through a scientific approach, we help establish standards and consistency for Taiwan tea."

Oriental Beauty tea has ripe fruit aromas such as longan and lychee, along with honey aroma (photo by Lin Yi-chun)

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