Stop Chasing Tasting Notes: Tea Isn’t Wine and That’s a Relief

September 29, 2026 | N.P. Lim

Hand holding a cup of tea on a sunlit wooden table next to a ceramic teapot.

I have a small confession to make.

Sometimes I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to be tasting.

A tea description might promise orchid, honey, toasted nuts, stone fruit, and something wonderfully mysterious called a “long mineral finish.”

I take a sip.

I taste tea.

And then I start wondering if everyone else is experiencing something I am not.

Tea culture has become remarkably good at describing tea. We have tasting wheels, elaborate notes, and entire conversations dedicated to identifying the smallest details in a cup.

There is something wonderful about that. Learning how to notice flavour can make tea more interesting.

But I think we sometimes take it too seriously.

I have had teas where I could immediately understand the description. I have also had teas where someone told me I should be tasting flowers and I spent the next five minutes searching desperately for a flower that simply was not there.

Perhaps the problem is that we have started treating tasting notes like an examination.

There is a right answer.

There is a wrong answer.

And if you cannot find the notes everyone else is talking about, you start wondering whether you understand tea at all.

But tea is not a test.

Maybe you taste honey.

Maybe you taste nothing particularly identifiable.

Maybe you simply think it is delicious.

That should count for something.

I sometimes envy the freedom of people who drink tea without worrying about describing it. They take a sip, decide whether they like it, and continue with their day. No tasting wheel required.

There is a strange relief in that.

Because tea does not need to behave like wine.

It does not need a vocabulary of impressive words before we are allowed to appreciate it. Sometimes a tea is floral. Sometimes it is earthy. Sometimes it is simply the tea we wanted that afternoon.

And honestly, I think that is enough.

The more I drink tea, the less interested I become in proving that I can identify every flavour.

I would rather know whether I want another cup.

Perhaps that is a better measure of appreciation anyway.

Not whether we can describe the tea perfectly.

But whether we enjoyed drinking it.

— Maria Tan

On tea, culture, and everyday rituals.

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