Printed from smellbook.com/smells/black-tea. This printout keeps the entry for Black Tea itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
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A brewed-leaf smell with warm, dry, tannic and lightly aromatic associations.
One of its types, Source, means the smell is named after “a physical origin that can contribute a smell”; it is not an evidence source, such as a study or a book. The page for Tea lists every smell recorded as coming from it.
Brewed black tea smells warm and dry with a slightly bitter, tannic edge, like dried leaves softened by hot water. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: what it comes from, molecules, related smells and comparisons. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT BLACK TEA
Brewed black tea smells warm and dry with a slightly bitter, tannic edge, like dried leaves softened by hot water. A malty, almost bready note sits underneath, and some teas add a faint fruity or smoky lift. The steam carries the smell strongly at first, then it mellows as the cup cools. Dry leaves in the caddy smell sharper and more like hay.
It rises from a tea cup at breakfast, at an afternoon break at work, and from a teapot left to brew in a café. Opening a tin or packet of loose leaves gives a drier, stronger version of the same smell.
Typical settings: tea cup, breakfast, afternoon break.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Key odorants of sun-dried black tea. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
5 molecules are named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives them. Each molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell.
Black Tea is a broad brewed-tea profile whose aroma varies by origin, processing and preparation.
SmellBook records one written comparison with other smells: see it in Connections.
Words that are easy to mix up: Is every warm smell spicy?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Key odorants of sun-dried black tea
Aroma recombination and omission tests confirmed (E)-β-damascenone, β-ionone, dihydro-β-ionone, linalool and geraniol as key odour-active compounds of a sun-dried black tea.
One sun-dried black tea; black tea aroma varies with cultivar, origin and processing.
How this was found: Odour analysis with human assessors. People smelled the separated compounds or the material itself (for example gas chromatography–olfactometry, dilution analysis, recombination or a sensory panel). Source: primary study; sensory or perception work.
Cong Liu, Chao Wang, Tingting Zheng, Miaomiao Zhao, Wanying Gong, Qiaomei Wang, Liang Yan & Wenjie Zhang
DOI 10.3390/foods11121740Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
Each step is a molecule that a VERIFIED claim names for both smells, in whatever role the claims state. Sharing a molecule does not mean two smells smell alike.
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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IN FRAGRANCE & SPACES
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Black Tea.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0058 — Black Teasmellbook:smell:black-teahttps://smellbook.com/smells/black-teaSmellBook. (2026). Black Tea (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:black-tea. https://smellbook.com/smells/black-tea@misc{smellbook_black_tea_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Black Tea},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:black-tea},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/black-tea}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-black-tea-r3 TI - Black Tea AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/black-tea N1 - SB-0058; smellbook:smell:black-tea; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/black-tea ER -
The citation names revision 3 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Black Tea is a broad brewed-tea profile whose aroma varies by origin, processing and preparation.
Other entries whose editors linked to Black Tea:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗