No. 027 — The Umami of Tea

TSURU COLLECTION • N°027

The umami of tea

Understanding this deep flavor that we sometimes struggle to name

Some cups are vegetal, others floral, fruity, or woody. And then there are teas whose liquor suddenly seems fuller, almost nourishing: a soft and savory impression lingers in the mouth without being truly sweet. This sensation has a name: umami.

Umami is not recognized by a particular aroma. It is discovered in this savory depth that sometimes gives the cup an astonishing sensation of presence.

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It is relatively easy to recognize a bitter tea.

The mouth protests immediately.

It is also possible to learn quite quickly to spot astringency: this sensation of dryness or tightening that we explored in the Tsuru n°026 dedicated to the astringency of tea.

Umami is more discreet.

It does not sting. It does not dry out. It is not simply sweet either.

When present, it can give the infusion a sensation of depth, roundness, sometimes an impression evoking a very light broth or a lingering vegetal sweetness.

This Japanese word is now widely used in gastronomic vocabulary. Yet, in the world of tea, it is sometimes used so casually that its meaning ends up becoming blurred.

Is a Japanese green tea necessarily umami?

Is theanine "the umami molecule"?

The more amino acids a tea contains, the better is it?

And above all: how to learn to truly recognize this sensation in a cup?

This is the path we are going to follow.

I. What do we call umami?

Umami belongs to the fundamental flavors recognized by our taste system, alongside sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.

The Japanese term can be brought close to the idea of "savory" or "delicious", but no French translation perfectly conveys the sensation.

Imagine a clear broth, some ripe tomatoes, mushrooms, parmesan, or kombu seaweed.

These foods are very different. Yet they can share this impression of gustatory depth that corresponds neither to sugar, nor salt, nor acidity.

In tea, umami can be much more delicate.

It sometimes appears as a dense vegetal sweetness. In some infusions, the liquor seems almost thicker even though its physical texture has not necessarily changed much.

The mouth retains a savory sensation after swallowing.

This is why a person discovering a very umami tea for the first time may have difficulty finding the right word.

They will sometimes say:

• "it's sweet";
• "it's round";
• "it almost tastes like broth";
• "it's very vegetal";
• "it lingers in the mouth";
• or simply: "there is something I don't find in my other teas".

These expressions are not absurd. They simply show how much our personal vocabulary must sometimes catch up with what our mouth already perceives.

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II. Umami has a scientific history

The word is Japanese because the scientific identification of this flavor is intimately linked to Japan.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda studied the characteristic taste of broth prepared with kombu, a seaweed traditionally used in Japanese cuisine.

He highlighted the role of glutamate in this sensation that he considered different from the already described flavors.

The concept of umami then gradually established itself in sensory sciences and the physiology of taste.

This story is interesting for the tea lover because glutamate is precisely one of the compounds that contribute to the umami of certain infusions.

But tea is chemically much more complex than a simple glutamate solution.

It contains hundreds of compounds capable of influencing its taste, aroma, color, and texture.

To understand the umami of tea, we must therefore resist a very common temptation: looking for a single molecule that would explain the entire cup.

III. Where does the umami of tea come from?

Camellia sinensis leaves naturally contain different free amino acids.

Several of them directly or indirectly contribute to the gustatory perception.

Among the compounds regularly associated with the umami of tea, we find notably:

• glutamic acid, or glutamate depending on its form and chemical conditions;
• aspartic acid;
• theanine;
• as well as other amino acids and molecules capable of modifying the overall balance of the liquor.

Sensory reconstruction studies have shown that glutamate constitutes an important contributor to the umami of green teas, while other compounds, including theanine, contribute to the general profile and can reinforce or modify the perception.

More recent research also shows that the reality is even richer: some compounds that would not spontaneously be described as strongly umami when tasted alone can modify this sensation when they are with other molecules in the infusion.

In other words, a cup is not the simple mathematical addition of its components.

They interact.

Some increase a sensation.

Others attenuate a bitterness.

Others still shift the balance between sweetness, astringency, and savory depth.

THE TEA COURTROOM

"The umami of tea is simply theanine."

Verdict: too simplistic.

Theanine contributes to the flavor profile of tea and can contribute to its sweet and umami character.

But glutamate, aspartate, and other compounds also act, while the interactions between molecules modify the final perception.

In a real cup, umami results from a chemical and sensory balance much more complex than a single molecule.

V. Why is umami so strongly associated with Japanese green teas?

This association did not come out of nowhere.

Some Japanese teas, particularly certain Gyokuro, Kabusecha, and teas intended for Matcha production, can present a remarkable umami intensity.

Several factors contribute to this.

The first is the plant material itself: cultivar, season, leaf age, and growing conditions influence its composition.

The second is a technique particularly important in certain Japanese productions: pre-harvest shading.

When the tea plant receives less light during a determined period before picking, its metabolism changes.

Studies have observed, depending on the experimental conditions, an increase in certain free amino acids, including theanine and glutamate.

At the same time, the balance between nitrogenous compounds, polyphenols, pigments, and other metabolites evolves.

This contributes to the particular personality sought in certain shaded teas.

It would be incorrect, however, to deduce from this:

"the more we shade, the better the tea will necessarily be."

The duration, intensity, and method of shading matter. The cultivar, climate, garden management, harvest, and processing also play a role.

Shading is an agronomic tool.

Not an automatic guarantee of quality.

VI. The cultivar already prepares part of the cup

Two tea plants of the same species can produce leaves whose composition differs significantly.

This is one of the reasons why the notion of cultivar is so important.

Some cultivars have been selected for their yield, resistance, earliness, adaptation to a terroir, or their aromatic and gustatory qualities.

The concentration of amino acids, catechins, and aromatic precursors can thus vary from one cultivar to another.

This diversity partly explains why two teas grown in similar conditions and processed according to a similar method can nevertheless give very different cups.

We had already encountered this idea in the Tsuru n°008 dedicated to tea cultivars.

Umami adds a new piece to the puzzle here.

The potential exists in the leaf even before the water of your teapot comes into play.

But this potential must still go through the harvest, processing, storage, then infusion.

VII. The season and the youth of the leaves also matter

A tea leaf is not a chemically frozen object.

Its composition evolves during its growth.

Young shoots do not have exactly the same balance as more developed leaves. The season, sunlight, temperature, and physiological state of the plant also influence the metabolites present at the time of harvest.

This is one of the reasons why the picking period can profoundly change the character of a tea.

The subject is developed in the Tsuru n°009 on the influence of the harvest season.

For umami, this reality is particularly important because we are precisely interested in molecules coming from the leaf's metabolism.

We cannot therefore seriously talk about umami by only looking at the name of the tea written on the label.

"Sencha", for example, designates a style of tea and not a guaranteed umami intensity.

Two Senchas can be radically different.

Similarly, not all Matchas develop the same gustatory depth.

The name indicates a family.

The leaf tells the rest.

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VIII. Umami, sweetness, bitterness, and astringency can coexist

A frequent mistake is to imagine flavors as independent boxes.

A tea would be either bitter, or sweet, or umami.

In reality, several perceptions can exist simultaneously.

An infusion can present a sweet start, an umami heart, a slight bitterness, then a final astringency.

Another can offer a lot of umami while retaining a vegetal tension.

It is precisely their balance that gives its architecture to the cup.

This idea allows us to understand why a tea possessing a certain bitterness is not automatically bad.

A slight bitterness can give relief when sweetness and umami remain present.

Conversely, an excessive extraction can make bitterness and astringency rise to the point of masking the finesse of the other sensations.

Tasting then becomes a question of proportion.

IX. Temperature can reveal or unbalance umami

The composition of the leaf is not enough.

It is also necessary to extract its compounds in water.

Temperature, time, and the ratio between the amount of leaves and the volume of water influence the extraction.

This is particularly visible with certain Japanese teas rich in amino acids.

A preparation at a moderate temperature can favor a supple, sweet cup rich in umami sensations, while much hotter water can modify the balance by extracting other compounds responsible notably for bitterness or astringency more quickly.

Be careful, however, with the magic rule.

There is no universal temperature allowing to "make" umami.

A low-umami tea will not suddenly become an exceptional Gyokuro simply because it is prepared at 55 °C.

The infusion reveals what the leaf can offer.

It does not create what is not there.

The good reflex is to experiment.

If you have a quality green tea, prepare it a first time according to your usual parameters.

Then start again with a slightly lower temperature while keeping the same dosage and a suitable duration.

Compare the two cups.

This approach joins that of the Tsuru n°006 dedicated to temperature and infusion time.

X. Why are some Gyokuro prepared almost like a concentrate?

The traditional or specialized preparation of certain Gyokuro can surprise when discovering Japanese tea.

We sometimes use a large amount of leaves, very little water, and a temperature significantly lower than that used for a classic Western infusion.

The result is not a large cup intended to be drunk quickly.

You get a few very concentrated sips.

The liqueur can then be dense, sweet, vegetal, and strongly umami.

The experience is closer to a tasting than to a thirst-quenching drink.

This method also allows us to understand one fundamental thing:

the same leaf can tell several stories depending on how it is infused.

A more diluted preparation will give a different balance.

Neither is necessarily "the only good one".

The choice depends on what we wish to discover.

XI. How to recognize umami without being influenced by the label?

This is probably the most interesting part.

Because reading "intense umami" even before tasting can guide our perception.

So let's try to go back to the mouth.

Take a small sip.

Do not immediately look for notes of nori, grass, or spinach.

These are possible aromatic descriptions, not a definition of umami.

Focus instead on the overall flavor.

Does the liqueur seem solely vegetal, or does it also have a savory and lingering sensation?

Does it give you the impression of having more depth than simply flavored water?

After swallowing, does a sweet and savory sensation remain on the tongue?

Is this perception different from a sweet taste?

As tastings continue, the brain begins to establish its own benchmarks.

It is exactly the same learning as that done with astringency.

A word read in a book is not enough.

It must one day meet a real sensation.

THE BREATH RITUAL

Seeking umami without seeking aromas

Preferably choose a green tea you already know.

First sip — forget the fragrance.
Do not look for grass, flowers, or fruit. Just ask yourself if the cup seems savory, round, or deep.

Second sip — look for the difference with sugar.
Does the pleasant sensation really come from a sweet sweetness, or is there something closer to an extremely delicate broth?

Third sip — observe the finish.
Swallow then wait a few seconds. Notice what remains on the tongue before taking the cup again.

Last step — change one parameter.
Prepare the same tea with slightly cooler water and compare.

You are not looking for the "right answer". You are building your taste memory.

XII. Is a very umami tea necessarily a better tea?

No.

Just as strong astringency is neither automatically a flaw nor automatically a quality, a strong umami intensity is not enough to define the value of a tea.

It all depends on the style sought.

A great black tea can be magnificent without having the umami profile of a Gyokuro.

A delicate white tea can fascinate with its aromas and texture without seeking this savory depth.

A roasted tea can favor roasted notes and great sweetness.

Comparing their "amount of umami" to rank them would make no sense.

Quality must be observed within the style of the tea: quality of the raw material, precision of processing, balance, aromatic clarity, texture, length, and overall coherence.

Umami is therefore an element of vocabulary.

Not a universal scale of prestige.

XIII. The word "umami" must not become an empty promise

The more popular a term becomes, the more likely it is to be used without precision.

"Umami", "premium", "grand cru", "artisanal": these words can bring real information when explained and justified.

They can also become simple commercial decorations.

For the tea lover, the best protection remains tasting.

If a product is presented as particularly umami, ask yourself why.

Is it a shaded tea?

Do we know its cultivar?

Its harvest?

Its origin?

Does the brewing recommendation really allow to highlight this profile?

And above all: do you find this sensation in your cup?

The vocabulary of tea should help us better understand what we drink.

Never prevent us from trusting our own sensations.

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THE KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

Tea umami in six points

1. Umami is a flavor and must not be confused with a vegetal or marine aroma.

2. Glutamate plays an important role in the umami of many green teas.

3. Theanine also participates in the flavor profile, but it does not explain the umami of an infusion on its own.

4. Cultivar, season, leaf age, cultivation, and processing influence the chemical balance of the tea.

5. The shading used for certain Japanese teas can favor the accumulation of certain free amino acids, but is not an automatic guarantee of quality.

6. Umami is not a scale allowing to rank all teas: it constitutes one of the many dimensions of their sensory profile.

XIV. A flavor that teaches us to slow down

It sometimes takes several cups before truly meeting umami in tea.

Not because this flavor would be reserved for experts.

But because we have rarely learned to give it a name.

We spontaneously recognize sweetness.

We immediately identify a strong bitterness.

We feel the acidity of a lemon without needing to think about it.

Umami often requires more attention.

It slips between the sweetness, the texture, and the length of the cup.

Then one day, after a small sip of a particularly expressive tea, the benchmark appears.

What seemed simply "round" or "deep" becomes identifiable.

It is one of the pleasures of sensory learning.

The molecules have not changed.

Nor has the tea.

It is our ability to listen to it that has become refined.

The next time a tea seems strangely savory to you, do not immediately look for its fragrance.

Give a few seconds to your tongue: perhaps you have just met umami.

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TO CONTINUE THE ROAD

To refine your reading of the cup, continue with the Tsuru dedicated to tasting, then return to astringency to learn to distinguish flavor and tactile sensation.

You can also explore our guide to Japanese teas to meet several families where this notion of umami takes full meaning.