The Chinese refer to Bitter Tea as "ku". Traditionally ku ding tea was used in China for medical purposes. The liquid colour is green and it has a pleasant after taste. Bitter Tea is an "acquired taste" and is very popular with serious tea drinkers.
Bitter Teas have an aroma that combines a bitterness resembling the herbs used in medicine with a metallic dryness, similar to the smell of a heated metal wok.
It is in the taste that Bitter Tea lives up to its name: the first couple of sips are extremely bitter, as if you are drinking medicine. With the next few sips the tea becomes bittersweet and as you drink a couple more the degree of bitterness changes again. Thus, the distinctive feature of Bitter Tea is that the taste changes from mouthful to mouthful. Bitter Tea also leaves a cool sensation in your mouth and a persistent bittersweetness, especially on the back and sides of your tongue.
