Quality Control, Aging or Normal Variation?
I just got some DavidsTea Nepal Black and it doesn’t seem to be the same as the first batch I got a few weeks ago in a different DT store.
This batch seems weaker, less complex. Among the characteristics of this less complex batch seems to be the inability to get it to go bitter upon long steeping and re-steeping, even after hours or a day (something I regularly experiment with). In general there’s less astringency.
This goes against my prior assumption that older tea gets MORE bitter. Or is it an erroneous assumption that astringency and bitterness are on the same continuum? (How ARE tannins affected by age, anyway?)
Is it simply a quality control thing—OR—is it that there are unavoidable variations in batches of tea, even tea sold by the same exact name?
Thoughts?
It’s probably just a different batch/harvest. Since you bought them from different stores, it’s likely that one has been sitting around unsold for longer than the other. I’d bet the less complex one is the older, in general i’d say bitterness smooths out a little with age, but with greens and blacks the flavor tends to go flat too, but it could just be batch variations. Being a natural plant product, tea will always have at least some variation from batch to batch, harvest to harvest, year to year, quality control and blending can only do so much, even for the most industrialized tea producers.
I just took a closer look at the tea. I think it may have more light-colored leaves in it than the other batch. So I would assume this is less oxidized.
DavidsTea site says it’s sourced from Jun Chiyabari and a rep told me it’s picked all year round. I’m wondering about variations in the level of oxidation, how that happens, and how that might affect the whole process and experience.
Tea is just different. Places like Davids do their best to create a similar taste in every batch but in tea without flavourings that is impossible. There are certain characteristics that tend to be similar, but it depends on so many factors. Rainfall, sun, weather, humidity, all sorts of fun things. Just like carrots generally taste like carrots – some taste better and some taste worse. Davids’ may mix together multiple harvests to create a similar flavour (much like how Tetley and Lipton and other teabag companies do it) but there are no guarantees. It’s not a quality issue so much as a fact of tea.
I agree with sansnipple though that older tends to be less bitter and more flat. I like Davids’ Nepal black well enough but it can be very boring sometimes. I think that is just how I feel about Nepalese tea in general.
It could be Spring/Autumn harvests. I’ve noticed that generally with black tea, Spring is more complex but also more finicky, and Autumn is more one-note, yet withstands overbrewing much better.
In my own experience, whole leaf teas tend to get less bitter with age.
That’s all great information. Thanks!
Are astringency and bitterness along the same continuum?
Not really. Bitterness is a flavour that’s caused by alkaloids in tea. Astringency is most often described as a mouth-feel – that drying, puckering sensation that you get on your tongue and cheeks, which is caused by polyphenols. So you can have a tea that has one quality but not the other, though often with teas that are oversteeped, you’ll get both bitterness and astringency together.
I’m not that well-versed in the area, but I do have an interest in understanding the chemistry of tea (and food in general).
According to Wikipedia under Phenolic content in tea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenolic_content_in_tea:
“Polyphenols in tea include catechins, theaflavins, tannins, and flavonoids.”
“Tannins are astringent, bitter polyphenolic compounds that bind to and precipitate organic compounds. Gallic acid conjugates of the catechins, such as EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate), are tannins with astringent qualities.”
Caffeine is one of the alkaloids in tea.
I think that tannic acid may have something to do with releasing the bitter alkaloids (from the little reading I’ve done). Do you know anything about that Anlina?
I have only a basic, layperson understanding of chemistry, but here are a few articles that I’ve found really interesting and helpful:
http://www.worldoftea.org/tea-chemistry/
http://www.worldoftea.org/engineers-guide-to-tea-preparation/
http://chadao.blogspot.ca/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html
http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/02/01/polyphenols-antioxidants-the-chemistry-of-tea/
http://www.teanerd.com/2007/04/astringency-red-headed-stepchild-of-tea.html
ok, now I’ve read two different things that slightly contradict each other.
tea contains no tannins. (in Anlina’s last link)
vs
tea contains tannins but no tannic acid. (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/black-tea-high-tannic-acid-11214.html)
“The tea’s caffeine, a bitter alkaloid, binds with the bitter tannins and — oddly — the two bitter compounds make each other less bitter, leaving the tea brisk and refreshing.”
I’m going to read further.
This looks like a presentation worth checking out on tannins
http://bostonteawrights.com/tea-tannins-a-primer-part-1/
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