Astringency in Japanese Tea: Where It Comes From
Astringency dries the mouth, while bitterness is a taste. Two infusions of the same tea help separate the sensations.
By Roseline Zhou, Founder
Contents
Do you finish a cup of Japanese tea with a slightly dry mouth, even though it didn't taste especially bitter? That feeling is called astringency. It leaves your mouth feeling puckered after a sip; bitterness is a taste on the tongue. The two can occur together.
We'd describe them separately before changing teas. Then you'll know whether it's the flavor or the sensation you dislike. And if you already enjoy the cup, there's no need to pick it apart.
How can you tell bitterness from astringency?
Take a small sip and wait a few seconds. You notice bitterness while drinking. Astringency feels more like your mouth has lost some smoothness, sometimes with roughness along the cheeks or tongue. It can last after the bitter taste has faded.
Tea polyphenols can interact with saliva. An experimental study of astringency describes this mechanism, but it can't sum up what every person feels. We'd start with your own sip before looking for the chemical explanation.
Why can Japanese green tea dry your mouth?
The leaf, its processing and the infusion all affect the final sensation. The amount of leaf, water temperature and steeping time change what enters the cup. An overly strong infusion can bring astringency to the foreground.
We'd make another cup with the same tea before judging the leaves. Sometimes an adjustment to the preparation changes the balance. If the sensation still stands out too much for your taste, different Japanese teas offer other profiles; that dryness doesn't prove the first tea is poor quality.
Two infusions to find the setting you like
Make two small cups with the same weight of leaves and the same volume of water. Change only the temperature or the steeping time. Notice bitterness during each sip; after swallowing, see whether any dryness remains.
We'd choose a steamed and rolled sencha to compare two cups made from the same leaf. With teas that have very different profiles, it's harder to tell what the change in preparation did.
Tencha and matcha: is the sensation comparable?
Tencha is the shaded leaf milled into matcha. When steeped, the leaf is removed from the water. Matcha, by contrast, stays dispersed in the bowl, so these aren't two infusions prepared in the same way.
Tencha's path from drying to milling explains that difference in the material. We'd taste each tea in its usual preparation, the one you'll actually drink. Trying leaf and powder side by side can teach you something without declaring a winner.
Should you seek a tea with no astringency?
A little dryness can give an infusion more character. If it hides everything else, adjust the preparation first; choose another leaf if that isn't enough. We look for a cup you'll want to return to, while leaving room for a preference for livelier teas.