Tasting spoon
A deep round-bowled spoon used in professional tasting to lift liquor from a bowl and draw it sharply across the palate. The depth and the wide bowl are functional: a full spoon can be taken in one aerating slurp, which spreads the liquid and carries volatile aroma to the back of the nose.
Identity
- Category
- Measurement
- Also called
- cupping spoon, slurping spoon
- Material
- Stainless steel or plated silver, with a deep round bowl
- Skill level
- Advanced
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Commercial tea and coffee tasting rooms. It belongs with the standardised tasting set rather than with domestic brewing.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
Any deep spoon, or drinking from a small cup and aerating deliberately. The technique is the part that matters and it can be practised with a soup spoon.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Brewing methods it is used for
- Western brewing (teapot or mug) — A small amount of leaf in a large volume of water, steeped once for a few minutes and then strained off. The approach most English-speaking drinkers already know, and the one most teas sold in the West are made for.
Care and maintenance
Rinse in clean hot water between samples rather than wiping it, and keep a rinse pot beside the bowls. Detergent residue on a tasting spoon carries into every sample after it.
Other measurements
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.