Tools to taste, not to tell you what to think.
A sensory toolkit for tea: aroma wheel (16 base + 64 sub-descriptors), 5-point scoring sheet used by Wuyi cuppers, blind-tasting templates, and a calibration set you can order to check your own palate against a reference.
The aroma wheel.
Sixteen base descriptors arranged in four quadrants — floral, fruit, vegetal, mineral — each with four sub-descriptors. Calibrated against a 12-tea reference set; expanded from the original Wuyi cupping wheel.
Use it to anchor a taster's notes — not to replace them. Wet stone is a useful word; I taste my grandmother's kitchen is a more useful one. The wheel gives common ground; the kitchen makes the tea memorable.
Five dimensions, all out of five.
A 5-point sheet adapted from Wuyi cupping panels: dry-leaf appearance, wet-leaf aroma, liquor color, mouthfeel, finish. No overall-score line — that part is for the taster's own conscience.
- 01Dry-leaf appearancecolor · shape · evenness
- 02Wet-leaf aromaat 2 min, lid lifted
- 03Liquor coloragainst white porcelain
- 04Mouthfeelbody · astringency · clean
- 05Finishat 60s after the cup
The 12-tea calibration set.
Twelve reference teas — three per quadrant — taste each one once a quarter to keep your descriptors honest. Sealed in foil, shipped in a wood box. $128 set; refills $48.
If a tea you brew tastes nothing like the calibration sample with the same name on the label, something is off — your water, your kettle, the storage, or the tea itself.
Order the set — $128 →