Go behind the scenes at our Tasting room.

From start to finish, we show how we taste our tea.

Tasting
When tasting a tea, it is difficult to judge its quality or usefulness in isolation. For this reason all teas are tasted against 'standards' When we receive samples in the 'sorting room' therefore, it is the responsibility of the trainee to decide which groups of teas should be tasted together.

Tetley has developed a system for categorising and grading tea, called 'Uhuru'. This enables any tea to be individually fingerprinted by giving it a numerical grading for Zing, Leaf Grade, Colour, Sparkle and Body.

Once it has been given this grading, the tea can be used in a blend in so that the consistent quality of Tetley tea is maintained from week to week!

"Zing" - similar to 'strength', it is the overall quality impression of the tea.

"Leaf Grade" - the size and method of how the leaf was cut.

"Body" - the weight or wateriness of the tea.

"Sparkle" - the intensity of the colour on a scale from dark and grey to bright and intense.

"Bulk density"- refers to the size and weight of the leaf.