Definition of "Astringency"
Are we in the tea community using this word properly?
I read this on a tea blog today about definitions of tea terms: “Bitter is a taste, Astringency is a negative feeling. Bitter can be enjoyable, astringency is almost never appreciated.”
The dictionary definition of the word astringent means it causes contraction of the body tissues. To me, then using that to describe a drink being astringent means it causes the mouth or tongue to pucker. This might be caused by something acrid or it might be caused by tartness or sourness.
I want to know what astringency means to you. I have always thought it to mean mouth-puckering, which is not at all the same thing as bitter or unpleasant, but can certainly be caused by something bitter or unpleasant. On the other hand it can be the effect of something pleasant like biting into a lime or lemon. Many people enjoy this. I have had teas with tart, sour, or tangy flavors that I would describe as astringent but definitely not unpleasant.
What do you think about usage of the word “astringent” with tea? It’s a rather common one I see in people’s reviews so now I’m wondering if we are all on totally different pages when it comes to that descriptor.
I consider astringency to be a drying or fuzzy sensation on the tongue during or after drinking the tea. Apparently astringency can be a pleasant thing in some teas, but I haven’t really encountered that.
To me astringency is that dry suctioning sensation in your mouth. I find the opposite of that quote true. While astringency can sometimes be appreciated, bitterness is almost never pleasant. To me astringency is a natural part of certain types of tea, while bitterness generally happens when you oversteep or use water that is too warm.
Agree! This is a link I found about the different types of astringency:
http://www.teanerd.com/2007/04/astringency-red-headed-stepchild-of-tea.html
I guess the take-away I’m seeing from these terms is that they all may mean something slightly different (though similar) to each of us, but adding a qualitative judgment to the definition is a bad idea since that is personal perception and some people might find the sensation to be pleasant. But then of course the difficulty is that people may intend to tag on that negative judgment by using the word, so it is hard for me to tell what they mean without asking.
I think of bitter as a specific taste quality, but not necessarily good or bad. Coffee and dark chocolate can be bitter. I don’t tend to like bitter very much. Grapefruits are too bitter to me and I can’t eat them. On the other hand, when the bitterness of coffee or dark chocolate aren’t too bold, maybe when diluted or mixed with other ingredients like sugar or cream, I can enjoy the bitter quality. Relating that to tea, I think some teas have a bit of a natural bitterness like you might find in coffee or chocolate, and that can be enjoyable to me. It registers differently to me than the bitterness of something being brewed improperly, which just creates too much bitterness and then becomes unpleasant.
I agree with this. I consider astringency to be more of a texture (described so well by cameron and cookies) and commonly associate it with certain types of teas. Usually it just is. Sometimes it’s too overwhelming, and sometimes it adds something to the tea that makes it better in my opinion.
I also agree with cookies’ description of bitterness. But, then I’ve always tended to differentiate between bitterness and sourness. I have a low tolerance for bitterness (I do not enjoy Lipton tea that has been steeped 10 minutes with boiling water, but some people do), but sourness can be good the way grapefruit juice is good.
I wonder if anyone could elaborate on what makes astringency different than just “drying” or “dryness”. Are the terms interchangeable?
I think of astringency as the fuzzy, dry mouth feeling, that’s almost a coating sensation.
I sometimes use “drying” to talk about the experience of astringency with tea. But “dry” also means not sweet, so I think that that can be a bit confusing, the flavour vs the texture.
Anlina, technically, dry only means not sweet when referring to alcohol drinks, as it means all the sugar has been converted to alcohol, and thus “dry”, but I’ve noticed a lot of wine words get ported over to tea tasting, which might be part of the confusion.
Cookies, I think that makes sense with the puckering added and not just dry.
I agree with much that has been said here. Astringency for me can be either the pucker that the inside of the cheeks or palate feels, or it can also be that slight dry sensation. Both of which … when present, are usually present toward the end of the sip.
I have read that some astringency is actually desirable and I think that it’s really based on personal preference (just as with anything else, I suppose), and the same is true of bitterness. I don’t mind bitterness when it’s a savory type of bitterness, but the bitterness that is experienced when a tea is oversteeped – and usually my palate can tell the difference – that bitterness is not desired.
What I found interesting by the original post is that “astringency is almost never desired” because I have heard the opposite.
I like a tea with no astringency, but I also have enjoyed many teas with little to moderate astringent qualities. If a tea is overly astringent to the point where I’m not able to focus on the other aspects of a tea, that would be undesirable in my opinion.
When I describe a tea as astringent, it’s basically the opposite of what I mean when I describe a tea as smooth. It’s not the same as bitterness, but rather a mouthfeel than a flavour. I think the folks above have described it quite well as that sort of dry, tight sensation. It’s not something I’m fond of in abundance, for sure.
I think that a tea can be both astringent and smooth. The sip can be smooth with astringency toward the finish. Many teas are this way in my opinion.
Dryness, more texture than anything as I’ve had pu’er that has sweet notes but is also dry.
With some degrees it could just make the back of your throat dry or your teeth feel a little weird/almost sticky or full on mouth like sand paper making you want to keep drinking the tea. Other times the tea sips in gritty without having chunks in it. For good times astringency adds like a cooling feeling adding to tea drunk craziness.
I used to HATE astringency, but these days I do appreciate it in mostly pu’er, sometimes oolong. I find it carries the aftertaste longer or adds a nice contrast to the tea. If it is too much dryness it feels like my face is going to implode.
To me astringency is a texture, that same sensation as eating an unripe persimmon, it feels like your mouth is being turned inside out in the most extreme or a dry puckering or sharpness to your teeth in the mild. I find in puerhs or some black teas if it is mild it is not an unwelcome sensation.
Bitterness is a whole different thing, some bitterness I love…others there is no way. The bitterness of overbrewed or burned tea is an absolute not. The bitter hops taste some Sheng puerhs can have is too much for me…but give me tobacco notes in a Wuyi, kale or bittergreen notes in a green tea and you have a very happy me.
I agree with the unripe persimmon, or maybe a really tart green apple at times. Those persimmons never ripen till the first frost. Any before that a slam on the senses.
Ugh, yes! I made the mistake of eating one after what I thought was the first frost (must have just barely been off) after watching it ripen for what felt like an eternity. Sadly it was not the heavenly yum experience my childhood mind was expecting :P
Now that I’m thinking about it, I find I can’t really describe the sensation without an example sitting in front of me (which I’m not about to go get). I do know though that I definitely define astringency separate from bitterness and drying though. I also think that it probably works on a gradient in terms of how much you’re used to and how much you tolerate.
I guess for me the best way to define it is as a type of sharpness. It’s not really something I would call a taste, and yet I hesitate to call it wholly a sensation. Think of a time when you’ve ever had blood in your mouth, and it ‘tastes’ metallic. Astringency isn’t (quite like) metallic, but it’s kind of along the same lines where it’s a thing that once you’re familiar with it (or you’ve termed it), you can identify it when you have it (for the most part). I have experienced that odd tooth sucking sensation with some astringent teas, but not all of them.
There are also some teas that are sooo smooth, and they dry my mouth and throat out terribly, but I would hesitate to call astringent.
Have to agree with what many of you have already said; Astringency is more a texture/mouthfeel than a flavour and I definitely consider it to be that dry and puckering feeling on your tongue, the roof of your mouth, and you cheeks. For me, that’s pretty well never a positive. I just don’t appreciate it. Occasionally I’ll use the word “choppy” to describe a somewhat/inconsistently astringent feeling when drinking tea, usually in reference to black tea specifically.
Conversely, Bitterness is all about taste and I do think there’s good bitter taste and bad bitter taste. Bad would be the bitterness associated with over steeping a tea or using water that’s too hot. “Good” bitterness, to me, is like the natural bitterness in some kinds of nuts or in other food types, like really dark chocolate.
Medications impair my ability to appreciate and evaluate astringency. I have two that cause excessive dry mouth, it is not so bad as to affect my teeth but then when I drink tea the effect is multiplied. So I can’t tell what is the tea versus medication effect. So I don’t really discuss that aspect of the tea due to the impairment on my judgement. I really like the persimmon imagery, I was thinking of crabapples.
This is a really interesting discussion. For me, bitterness and astringency are similar but not the same. Bitter (in tea) is never pleasant for me though, where astringency might be acceptable or even appreciable. Bitter in other things can be downright enjoyable but when I say my tea is bitter it is a bad bad thing.
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