Video Transcript

The first step in cupping tea is to examine and smell the dried tea leaves. Now, this, examining the smell and the color and the appearance of dried tea leaves is not a factor in evaluating oolong and green teas, but it is a factor that's going to come into play with black teas. So, down here I have this nice black tea and I'm just going to look at the leaves, and what you're looking for in black tea is color, first of all, it should be black to brown. And the leaves should be twisted, and what I mean by twisted is if you look at that very small leaf it's not a flat leaf but it's twisted around itself. Now, the more twisted, the more tightly twisted the leaves are, the longer it's going to take them to infuse, and so, if you're drinking multiple cups, a really tightly twisted leaf will usually yield a better second cup. So you're looking for small, well-rolled, uniform leaves, and it should also, they should also be pretty hard. You can squeeze them and test the resilience of the leaves, and like this tea is pretty crunchy when I squeeze it, but a very resilient tea usually means it's a young tea. Well twisted leaves are also-that's also an indication that they have been withered well, and basically that's all you do. You can also smell them, and that's just going to give you an idea of freshness or any hints of mold or any impurities in the tea.