What is the taste of astringency? Is it different from bitterness?
Astringency is a feeling rather than a taste. It’s something you can feel in the body (a feeling in your mouth) of the tea. It is also the “puckering” sensation. In the medical definition, astringency is the tendency to draw together or constrict tissue, to pucker. People confuse the taste of bitterness and astringency. Bitterness is one of four tastes – bitter, sweet, sour and salty – that are picked up in the mouth and sent to the brain. The bitterness in tea comes from caffeine, and astringency comes from catechin (tannin). The astringency overlays the tastes and adds a weight or thickness to the tastes.
Astringency is a feeling rather than a taste. It’s something you can feel in the body (a feeling in your mouth) of the tea. It is also the “puckering” sensation. In the medical definition, astringency is the tendency to draw together or constrict tissue, to pucker. People confuse the taste of bitterness and astringency. Bitterness is one of four standard tastes – bitter, sweet, sour and salty – that are picked up in the mouth and sent to the brain. (The existence of a fifth taste, Umami, has recently been confirmed.) The bitterness in tea comes from caffeine, and astringency comes from catechin (tannin). The astringency overlays the tastes and adds a weight or thickness to the tastes.
