kongni wrote: Overall I think I have "bitter" and "astringent" mixed up.
Strictly speaking there are only 4 tastes -- sweet, sour,
bitter, salty -- unless you count umami, then there are 5. Everything else we sense through the nose which is a far more sophisticated spectrum of sensations than taste.
"
Astringency" is not a taste, it is a drying, puckering mouthfeel, sometimes described as "sandpapery." Red wines often have high astringency. In moderate amounts, astringency can be pleasant in tea; in large amounts, it can make it undrinkable, like if you oversteep or in some very young sheng puerhs. I often refer to excess astringency as roughness on the mouth or throat.
BITTER: tonic water, unsweetened chocolate, beer, olives, citrus peel, coffee
ASTRINGENT: the dry, puckering mouth feel, sandpapery feel, green banana peel, persimmon, red wine, concord grapes
Tea is not usually bitter ... quite often, however, it can be astringent.
In a January 15, 2007 TeaMail post, Nigel Melican wrote:
- Re: Novice-Bitter Vs Astringent, (Tea Samples Etc.)
No, these two are very different. In simple terms BITTER is the
taste
sensation of chewing grapefruit skin. ASTRINGENT is the taste
sensation from chewing underripe banana skin. Try these two and
you'll
never mistake them again!
In tea bitter taste comes slightly from caffeine and principally from
flavanols (unoxidised flavanols or catechins cause most of the bitter
taste of a green tea - particularly after brewing too long or too
hot). Astringency comes principally from oxidised flavanols
(theaflavins) and tends to be more a feature of oolong and black teas
(but not exclusively). Tea tasters term astringency as BRISKNESS and
PUNGENCY. As is normal with all tea tastes, too much is just as bad
as too little.
Nigel at Teacraft
He has another interesting post which you probably have to join Yahoo Groups TeaMail to read at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teamail/message/53848
As Scruff and Nigel both emphasize above, astringency ("briskness" in tea taster parlance) is an important component of good tea ... too much is bad, but so is too little. On the other hand, I don't think bitterness is usually seen as a component of normal tea taste.
)
I occasionally drink it anyways, especially this time of year when I can get pumpkin spice lattes, and eggnog lattes. 
