Tasting and Evaluating Tea by Chinese Government (GuoBiao) Standards: Shi Ru

Hey friends! Here is part 2 of the series I started the other week. Last time, I taught you how to professionally cup and taste yancha. Today, I’m teaching you how to conduct your own GuoBiao-style analysis of your teas using Shi Ru. The standards I’ll be using for yancha are GB/T 18745-2006/XG1-2018. As a disclaimer, I AM NOT working for, nor HAVE I EVER, worked for GuoBiao or the Chinese Government. While I do use their guidelines, this is NOT AN OFFICIAL G/B evaluation of the shi ru. This is simply the ratings given to it by a trained yancha specialist, not the Chinese government.

I have also included a downloadable template for you, below, to use when scoring your own teas. This is a modified and translated version of the official GuoBiao forms, made simpler for a Western audience. You can modify it to fit any tea, really, but this is the yancha specific one I have created. So, without further ado, let’s get into this post.

Tea Tasting Form.odt

Download ODT • 13KB

For those curious, this is my exact form below, filled out with my comments and scores.

My Tea Evaluation Form

Page 2 of my official notes

Brewing Parameters: 

To brew this shi ru, I did a 5-minute steep at 95C or 203F using 3g of leaves in my 100ml gaiwan. I used Crystal Geyser spring water for this, which is what I use for every tea. 

The Dry Shi Ru Leaves

For starters, let’s look at the picking as well as the processing of the leaf. In an evaluation, appearance only accounts for 35 out of 100 points (20 for dry appearance, plus 5 for color and 10 for the infused appearance of the wet leaves) when scoring yancha. We look at the roast level, the appearance of the dry leaves, as well as the overall color of the leaves. For this one, it’s likely a medium roast at about 40-50% oxidation, or the lighter end of the medium roast spectrum. It has some nice toads backs on the leaves, indicating a nice firing process when baking this tea. Now, in addition to the appearance of the leaves, we want to look at the leaf as a whole. While some broken leaves are to be expected (the industry standard is usually about 15% or less broken material per package), a quality yancha should retain the overall shape of its leaves with minimal broken material. This one did technically fail that threshold as for the 3g sample used, only 1.2g were whole leaves; HOWEVER, two caveats here: it is entirely possible that were I to brew a different 3g from the full 8g bag, this ratio would change and it would pass. Additionally, Gus has since assured me that they are aware of this, and that this issue was due to packaging, which has since been resolved on all new shipments, meaning that there is a smaller likelihood of broken leaves. So, with those caveats in mind, the appearance of the dry leaves scored a 14/20 as they were uniform in color with a nice roast, only using those 6 points due to the broken and crushed leaves.

That Beautiful Infusion

As far as color goes, the tea was a perfect deep orange with a thick viscosity and a nice clarity to it. It had an almost oily-texture from the spoon with a nice sheen and no particulates remaining in the tea, aside from the ones I put in there from not using a filter. This scored a 5/5 in the infusion color category.

The Leaves in water on a white evaluation plate

The Wet Leaves in Gaiwan

The Few Whole Leaves

To analyze the wet leaves, we will put them out on a white plate or background and add some cold water to stop the steeping process. This also helps the tea leaves remain wet and opened. Looking at the leaves when brewed, a good yancha should appear predominantly green but with red along the ridges of the leaves, with a nice expansion and thick, whole leaves; for this shi ru, we do see a good mix of green leaves with a reddish tinge, though again, due to the broken and crushed leaves, the smaller segments were under-expanded, meaning that the score ended up being an 8/10 for the leaf expansion. 

Smell That Spoon!

Aromas:

The next category to evaluate is the aroma. This is worth 30 out of 100 points. During an evaluation, one should be more concerned by the taste and smells than the looks. For the dry leaves, the shi ru had a lovely, nutty, roasted intensity to it with nice notes of peanuts, caramelized sugar, spices, and plums. There’s also a deep pineapple-y-like or tropical aroma to it, it’s fascinating. It scores a 14/15 here. When evaluating the tea itself for aromas, we look at what things we notice both coming off the brewed tea, the aromas coming from the monorail, and the For the brewed tea, this one got a perfect 15/15. The aroma was intensely long lasting with a nice sugarcane and licorice note to it, coupled with caramelized sugars and spices. It is incredibly pleasant with a nice, fruity, vegetal florality to the brewed leaves. 

Tastes:

Now onto taste. Taste accounts for 35/100 points in an evaluation as yancha is known for having complex tastes that engage you with each steep. This means that the taste profile, aftertaste, and mouthfeel each get 10 points, with the minerality getting 5. For the taste profile, we want to look at the sweetness/bitterness/astringency, etc., as well as more pinpointed notes like florals, roasted notes, etc. This shi ru scored a 9/10 for the profile. It had a slight vegetal bitterness to it with a nice heavy cream note, coupled with chocolate creamsicles, cocoa, spiced nuts, and a heavy honey and caramelized sugar note. It was almost like a creme brulee- toasty, carmelly goodness. For the aftertaste, or hui gan, this also scored a 9/10. It had a very impressive, sweet, long-lasting huigan. It has notes of stone fruits, raisins, and a slice spiced note to it. It’s like smooth sugared nuts and has a nice licorice note as you breathe in. It’s lovely and lasts surprisingly long. I was still tasting this tea about 3 hours after I had drank it!

Now onto the mouthfeel. For mouthfeel, we want to look at the texture and smoothness of the liquor. Is it creamy, astringent, rich, etc.? For this shi ru, it scored a 9/10 on mouthfeel. This had a thick, oily texture with a creamy mouthfeel. There was little to no astringency and it went down like a brothy water- easy to sip and hearty at the same time. Very nice. 

The final category on the evaluation is minerality. This is where we look at the mineral or rocky flavors of the tea, or the “essence of the mountains” yancha is famous for. This minerality can come across as salinity or a saltiness, sometimes more like drinking mineral water. You can also sometimes notice it as a sort of metallic note, like licking copper coins or the smell of a penny- weird, I know, but it’s fascinating. This shi ru had a strong, noticeable yan yun with a slightly salty umami note to it- leading to it getting a nice 5/5 in minerality.

That brings us to the overall score of the tea. For this, we look at everything and our scores and notes, creating our general impression of the tea’s balance, complexity, and character. This is the total out of 100. For this shi ru, I gave it an 88/100. This is by far one of the nicest yancha I’ve ever had, especially coming from a western-based vendor. There was a great, intense creaminess to it, the hallmark of a good shi ru, while also having a great balance and mouthfeel. There was no astringency and it was very well-balanced with each flavor note and texture complementing each other rather than competing for attention or dominating the rest. This is a star example of shi ru’s beauty! 

Final Verdict:

Under a GuoBiao-style analysis, this tea would score an 88/100. Under GuoBiao scoring, an 88 places this in the upper middle range of scores. Under GB, teas scoring 90-100 are considered excellent and gold medal teas; teas scoring 85-89 are very good, often earning silver or high bronze medals. Scores below 85 tend to place the tea in the lower tiers, with possible recognition but less likely to win any medal. So, a score of 88 would likely earn a silver or high bronze medal, depending on the overall competition pool and the quality of other entries. There are lots of variations in hand that play into it, but under my scoring, that would technically put this shi ru at the second tier of grading, which is quite impressive given its pricing. At $50.00 for 100g, or about $0.50 cents a gram, this tea hits way above its weight. Their pricing is in-line with other competition winning teas and has a flavor profile that honestly blasts some award-winning teas I’ve had at higher prices out of the water. With an intense and long-lasting huigan, noticeable yan yun, and an incredible aroma, this tea is sure to be a pleaser to tea lovers and yancha enthusiasts alike. 

TL;DR of GuoBiao Analysis:

A GuoBiao analysis for Wuyi Yancha is a Chinese tea evaluation standard that scores the tea on several key categories, each awarding points out of a possible 100. The key areas evaluated are:

1. Appearance (35 points) – Assesses the shape, uniformity, and visual appeal of the dry leaves. Analyze the look of the brewed leaves too, looking for any inconsistencies or defects. Look at the turbidity (clarity) of the tea- is it clear or cloudy? What is the texture of the tea?

2. Aroma (30 points) – Evaluate the fragrance of both the dry leaves, brewed leaves, and the infused tea. What notes do you get off the dry leaves before warming in a gaiwan, after warming the leaves, and after brewing? Make sure you smell the gaiwan lid for this, too. 

3. Taste (35 points) – Focuses on the flavor, balance, and complexity of the tea liquor. What is the mouthfeel of the tea? Do you notice any minerality? Is the taste profile balanced?