1. Tea Leaf
How do the leaves look? Lots of white tips from the buds and a brilliant color can be an indication of quality while dull greyish leaves can be an indication of poor quality or storage. Some terms you may see to describe the tea leaves are as follows:

·        Broken: Leaves have been broken into smaller fragments during rolling.

·        Leafy or Full-Leaf: Teas that have large, open leaves.

·        Needles: Teas that are either just the leaf bud or young, opened leaves which have been tightly rolled or cut into the needle-like shape.

·        Pearls or Pellets: Teas that have been rolled into round balls.

·        Steamed: Teas that have been steamed. Most often these are Japanese Green teas.

·        Tippy:  Teas that have unopened buds or Pekoe tip.

·        Wiry: Teas that have long, thin, tightly rolled leaves.

2. Tea Liquor
The liquid that results from brewing tea is called the liquor. The potential colors range from pale yellow to amber to deep red. There is no right or wrong here. Tea produces quite an array of beautiful colors.

You're looking for clarity here. The only time tea clouding is not an indication of poor-quality tea is when hot tea is cooled too quickly when making iced tea, as in refrigerating hot tea. And even then, clouding is not desirable, but it doesn't mean the tea is bad.

Part of the tea liquor is the mouthfeel. Mouthfeel indicates strength. It’s about the sensations you feel in your mouth when you taste the tea.

Is the tea smooth or does it feel dry and biting? Some teas are thicker or fuller than others which also contributes to the mouthfeel or “Umami”, a word from Japanese, meaning 'pleasant savory taste'.

3. Tea Flavor
The sense of smell and taste are intricately linked. Our tongues can detect five basic tastes - sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Sometimes the initial impression can throw off the taste so it’s important to take in the aroma first.

Many people don’t realize that our sense of taste doesn’t exist only on the tongue. We mainly taste through our sense of smell. In fact, 90% of flavor is perceived through smell. So, aroma is important.

Professional tea tasters smell the leaves before and after steeping. The aroma, also called the Nose, can reveal subtle nuances. How does the aroma of the dry leaves compare to the wet leaves? What about the aroma of the brewed cup?

Above all, enjoy your tea! Tea tasting is a very individual experience. How one person describes tea could be totally different than how someone else would describe the same tea.

https://www.lifeisbetterwithtea.com/tasting-notes/