Cool Job # 1 – Tea Taster

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Tea Taster

Tea tasting is a highly specialised area. Tea tasters differentiate between the various flavours of tea and help to brand the varieties according to quality. Most tea companies employ tea tasters for ensuring quality standards, and preparing blends. Tea tasting is typically learnt on the job.

Tea tasters have to develop the expertise to distinguish between the taste and aroma of different teas. Tea tasters should keep their sensitivities clean and should keep smoking, drinking and intake of spicy foods in check. The drawbacks can be damage to your digestive system especially at the peak season when you may have taste as many as 200-300 cups of tea a day and result in stains on your teeth which has to be removed periodically.

Tasters are recruited by manufacturing companies, brokers as well as buyers. In a manufacturing company, the taster detects defects in the production process by looking at the colour and size of the leaves to determine if they have been fermented or dried under fire and sends them back to the factory to rectify if needed. They also have to coordinate with gardens, look after import and exports, advise researchers on commercial factors like taste, economic viability and maturity of tea etc. In the broker’s office, the taster plays an advisory role and informs manufacturers about market trends. In buying houses besides ensuring quality, tasters have to know what’s happening in both the domestic and international markets. Many youngsters opt for this profession because of the out-of-the-ordinary nature of the work and the high pay.