Amoy
Fulien oolong teas marketed at Amoy.

Auction
Sale of tea in an auction room on a stipulated date at a specific time. Tea auctions are held in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya and Malawi- these auctions only sell teas from their particular areas.The London Tea Auction, held every Monday morning (barring public or bank holidays) in the city of London is the only true international tea auction, where teas from all over the world are sold.

Autumnal
Teas harvested in autumn and touched with cool weather. The term is normally applied to teas from India and Formosa.

Ball tea
China tea compressed in a ball to protect it against atmospheric changes.

Basket-fired
Japan tea that has been cured in baskets by firing or drying.

Billy tea
Tea made by Australian bushmen in billy cans.

Bitter tea
Tea brewing method used in Cashmere. Tea is boiled a tinned copper vessel, red potash, aniseed and salt are added before it is served from a brass or copper, tin lined teapot.

Black tea
Tea that has been fired or dried after the fermentation or Oxidation period of manufacture.

Blend
Tea taster who decides on the proportions of each different tea required to produce the flavor of a given blend.

Break
An amount of tea, comprising a given number of chests or sacks of tea,

Brick tea
Common grades of China and Japan tea mixed with stalk and dust and molded into bricks under high pressure. Originally these bricks were used by Asian travelers as convenient way the tea they need to drink and the bricks were also used to barter for other goods

Broker
A tea who negotiates the selling of tea from producers, or the buying of tea for packers and dealers, for a brokerage fee from the party on whose behalf the broker is working.

Butter tea(Tsampa)
Boiled tea mixed with salt and soda, then strained into an urn containing butter and dried ground cereal (often barley) and churned. Butter tea is served in a basin and often a lump of butter is added when serving. It was served in Tibet and then in India.

Caddy
The name given to a tin or jar of tea, which takes its name from the Chinese or Malayan word 'catty'- a term used to describe the weigh of one pound of tea. In past tea caddies were equipped with a lock and key.

Camellia sinensis
Today, the tea trade's international botanical name for the tea plant.

Caravan tea
Tea taken by camel from China to Russia in the past.

Cha
The word for  tea tea derived from the Chinese and Indian Languages.

Chanoyu
Japanese tea ceremony or party.

Chest
Original tea package, normally made of wood and lined with metal foil.. Originally tea chests were lined with lead.

Ching Wo
Black China tea from Fujien province.

Chop
From the Indian chapna meaning to stamp a number, mark or brand. Each break of chop of tea is marked.

Chunmee
Green China tea, said to resemble the shape of human eyebrows.

Collection
Once a plucker has filled a basket or sack with tea leaf, it is taken to a collection point where it is checked and weighed before being taken to the factory for making.

Cloning
Cuttings taken from old tea bushes to produce new tea bushes. Today most tea bushes are grown from clones or cuttings taken from older bushes.

Congou
a general term used to describe all black China teas regardless of the area in which they are grown and made.

Country Greens
A term originally used to describe all black China green teas, other than Hoochows or Pingsueys.

Earl Grey
A black China tea treated with the oil of bergamot which gives the tea a scented aroma and taste. It was said to have been blended for and named after the 2nd Earl Grey when he was prime minster of Britain by a chinese mandarin after the success of a british diplomatic mission of china.

Ching Wo
The name originally given to tea growing plantations or estates. The Japanese cultivated tea garden within their temples and palace grounds and had copied this idea from the Chinese. Today the term estate has tended to replace the word garden but teas grown on such trend to identify fine harvests produced solely from that estate- hence a single estate tea. Tea garden was also used to describe London pleasure gardens in England mainly during the 18th century where tea was served to both sexes.

Estate
A tea growing property or holding that may include more than one garden under the same manger ship or ownership. In past tea estates where known as plantations.

English Breakfast Tea
A name for the tea blend which originally applied to China Congou tea in the United states of America . In Britain it was a name applied to a blend of teas from India and Srilanka; today it is used to include blends of black teas producing a full-bodied strong flavored colorful tea.

Government Standards
Applies to tea being imported into United States of America which comply with the standards of purity, quality and fitness for consumption as defined by the tea examiners under the Food and Drug administration of the USA department of health , Education and Welfare.

Grade
Term used to describe a tea leaf or particle size of leaf.

Green Tea
Tea that is withered immediately steamed or heated to kill the enzymes then rolled and dried. It light appearance and Flavor.

Gunpowder
Normally a China tea, but today could be any young tea which is rolled into smaller pellet size balled and then dried. the finished tea has a grayish appearance not unlike gunpowder in color which is how tea gets its name.

Gyokuro
A high grade Japanese tea a produced by a special process in the Uji district of japan. It is made from tea grown on shaded bushes.

Handkerchief tea
A tea which was grown in Formosa and which gets its name from large silk handkerchiefs that chinese tea growers used to use to collect their very fine tippy tea.

High tea
The name given to a meal served late afternoon early evening which is  a mixture of afternoon tea and dinner. the meal comprises of a main entree dish sometimes a pudding or desert served with bread and butter, cakes and teas. High tea was the main meal of farming and working class of Britan in the past.

Hoochow
A China Green tea.

Hyson
A type of china green tea formally drunk exclusively in Europe and often the name given there to the tea drink. Young Hyson is this type of tea which is plucked early.

Invoice
The document covering a shipment of tea generally synonymous with  a break or chop.

Jat
Type of tea brush normally applied to its origin. For example a tea comes from the China or Indian Jat. This means that the tea bushes originated either from seeds or cuttings from China tea plants or from the indigenous tea found in Assam.

Kandy
A ceylon tea, medium grown at altitudes between 2000 ft and 4000 ft above sea level. Teas from candies are also used for blending purposes.

Keemum
a fine grade of black leaf China Congou tea produced in the Anhui province.

Kericho
The home of the state owned Kenya Tea packing factory of which is smoked of its smoky tarry flavor and aroma.

Malawi
African tea producers whose teas are mainly used for blending purposes as they are coloury with good flavor.

Matcha
Powdered green tea from Japan used inthe tea ceremony.

Meat Tea
Another term for High tea.

Natural leaf
Whole leaf green tea from Japan similar to panfired but with less rolling also known as porcelain fired tea.

Nuwarah Eliyah
A ceylon tea, high grown at altitudes above 4000 ft sea level. The tea is light with a full citrus flavor.

Oolong
A semi fermented or semi Green tea produced in China and Formosa.

Pan-Fired
A kind of Japan tea that is steamed then rolled in iron-pans over charcoal fires.

Plucking plateau
The flat top of the tea bush from which the top two leaf and buds sprout on sprigs are plucked.

Pouchong
A kind of scented China or Formosa tea so called from the Cantonese method of packing tea in smaller paper packets each of which was supposed to be the produce of one choice of the tea plant.

Russian tea
The name given to a class of hot tea liquor which has been poured into the glass over a slice of lemon.Sometimes sugar or honey are added. In some countries this type of tea drink is known as lemon tea. The name comes from the Russian way of taking tea.

Rwanda
An African tea producer, whose tea are used for blending purposes. Rwanda tea has a bright coppery color and brisk taste.

Pruning
Selective cutting back of the tea brush , so that it maintains its shape and helps to keep its productivity.

scented tea
Green semi fermented or black teas that have been flavored by addition of flowery and flower petals , fruits spices or natural oils. Examples of these are Jasmine tea,Rose Puchong,Orange tea, Cinnamon tea or Earl Grey.

Semi-Fermented tea
Tea that has been partially fermented before being fired or dried. The tea has the qualities and appearance and halfway between a green tea and the black tea.

Sencha
The most popular variety of green tea in Japan.

Single Estate Tea
A blend of teas from one particular estate or garden.

Smoky tea
Black tea from China and Formosa that has been smoked over a wood fire such in the case of Lapsang Souchong.

Specialty tea
A blend of teas that takes its name from the area in which it is grown; a blend of teas blended for a particular person ar event or a blend of teas for a particular time of the day.

Spring teas
Formosa teas picked in the April-May season.

Souchong
A large leaf black tea. Originated in China, Souchong tea was made from a small bush whose leaves were allowed to develop to a large size.

Summer tea
Formosa teas picked in the June-September season.

Tannin
The name the tea trade worldwide give to poly phenols contained are responsible for the pungency of tea and give its taste.

Tarry
The smoky aroma and taste associated with a smoked black tea such as Lapsang Souchong.

Tea Factory
Factory where the plucked leaf is made or manufactured into black or green tea.

Tea tree
A tea bush or plant which has been allowed to return to its wild state and grow back into a tree.

Tea taster
An expert judge of leaf and cup quality tea at all stages of production, brokerage blending and final packaging.

Tip
The bud leaves on a tea bush.

Twankay
A low grade China green tea. This word was corrupted Twanky, which was applied to the men manning the ships bringing tea back from China.These ships often foundered on reaching the british coast and the bodies of Twankys would be washed ashore to be founded by their widows - hence the name given to the Aladdin character 'Widow Twanky' by a Victorian impresario.