Which words to describe coffee taste actually mean something?
Describing a drink well takes more than calling it delicious. Tasting vocabulary gives each sensation a defined meaning: hui gan is the turn from bitterness to sweetness after swallowing, sheng jin is saliva rising in the mouth, hou yun is the throat sensation that follows, and suo hou, astringency, and gua bei name tightness, drying, and coating effects. These terms apply to tea and to coffee alike.
Raw Pu'er shows hui gan clearly because Yunnan large-leaf arbor tea is strongly bitter and astringent, and the sweetness that follows can reach into the throat. Sheng jin covers the cheeks, tongue surface, and underside of the tongue. Hou yun can be sweet, moist, or dry. Using precise terms lets a taster separate genuine quality from a merely pleasant first impression.
To accurately describe the taste and mouthfeel of a tea, relying solely on the word "delicious" is far from enough. The terms commonly used in tea tasting—hui gan, sheng jin, hou yun, suo hou, astringency, and gua bei—each have clear meanings and criteria for judgment. This article breaks down these tasting concepts one by one, helping you describe the true sensations in your mouth and throat with more precise language when introducing Mi Lan Xiang Dancong, while also avoiding poor-quality teas when making selections.
1. What Is Hui Gan Literally understood, hui gan is the process by which bitterness gradually fades after entering the mouth and turns into sweetness—what is commonly called "bitterness ends, sweetness arrives." This taste experience is especially typical when drinking raw Pu'er tea, because most Yunnan large-leaf arbor teas are themselves strongly bitter and astringent. After the bitterness recedes, a sweet resonance often rises in the mouth—this is hui gan. Compared with other tea types, raw Pu'er's hui gan is usually more lasting and is not limited to the surface of the tongue; it easily extends and penetrates into the throat area.
2. What Is Sheng Jin Sheng jin refers to the phenomenon of saliva being produced in the mouth, covering areas such as the cheeks, the surface of the tongue, and the underside of the tongue. Saliva in the mouth brings a quenching, comfortable feeling and also helps moisten the oral cavity. When the body is in a subhealthy or unwell state, people often feel dry-mouthed and dry-throated, with a tight throat. Only a healthy body has the ability to produce saliva naturally. Some Pu'er teas, Liubao teas, and Hunan dark teas have prominent sheng jin performance because they are rich in internal substances, leaving people feeling comfortable after drinking.
3. What Is Hou Yun Simply put, hou yun is the sensation the throat receives after the tea liquor is swallowed, such as being moistened or having tightness and dryness relieved. For this reason, hou yun has long been highly valued by tea lovers. For experienced veteran tea drinkers, hou yun is one of the key indicators for judging the quality of tea. Pu'er tea's hou yun can be experienced in three dimensions: sweet, moist, and dry. Teas with strong hou yun are, in the vast majority of cases, of the type that fills the mouth with hui gan. In other words, the tea liquor must first satisfy the taste stimulation in the mouth before it can reach deep into the throat and even trigger a warm sensation in the esophagus and stomach. If a tea has no hou yun, then after the tea liquor is swallowed, all sensations remain in the mouth and stop there. That is why you occasionally hear veteran tea drinkers, when drinking a good tea, point to their throat and say, "I can feel the tea liquor going down to here."
4. What Is Suo Hou After drinking tea, if the throat shows tightness, itching, excessive dryness, difficulty swallowing, or other uncomfortable reactions, these can all be collectively called suo hou. Teas that usually carry a suo hou sensation are not ideal in quality. It locks up the base of the throat, dries the upper palate, and numbs the tongue, making people uncomfortable. It is advisable to avoid such teas as much as possible.
5. What Is Astringency Many people use the term "astringency," but few truly understand it. In fact, astringency is closely related to the bitterness and astringency of tea. It measures the strength of the perceived time in the process by which bitter and astringent flavors transform into hui gan. The stronger the astringency, the shorter the interval between the bitter and astringent flavor entering the mouth, being perceived as fading, and then turning into hui gan; conversely, when astringency is weak, the bitter and astringent flavor fades slowly in the mouth and may even linger without dispersing. At the moment a tea enters the mouth, the bitter and astringent flavor is quickly captured by the sensory organs in the oral cavity. How long can this sensation be maintained in the mouth? This depends on the tea's astringency performance.
6. What Is Gua Bei In the field of wine, gua bei refers to how long the liquid remains on the glass wall. The slower the liquid flows and the longer the gua bei, the higher the sugar content in the wine. But when tasting tea, gua bei does not refer to how long the tea liquor clings to the cup wall, but rather to how long the tea's aroma remains on the cup wall. The longer and more intense the lingering fragrance, the longer the gua bei time, which also means the tea's quality is better.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
