THE EFFICACY OF TEA QUALITY FACTORS IMPACT ON TEA CONSUMERS' SATISFACTION FROM THE EXPERTS' VIEWPOINT

Sensory attributes are central to how tea quality is judged along the value chain, yet their relationship with consumer satisfaction remains thinly documented in Iran. This study examines aroma, flavor, and infusion color from the perspective of tea industry experts in Lahijan, Guilan Province. A descriptive–analytical design was used. Of 90 questionnaires distributed, 89 usable responses were obtained; items used a five-point Likert-type format and were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS. Mean satisfaction differed significantly across the four rating categories for aroma, F(3, 85) = 7.810, p < .001, η² ≈ .216; flavor, F(3, 85) = 11.676, p < .001, η² ≈ .292; and color, F(3, 85) = 8.973, p < .001, η² ≈ .241. Under the conventional benchmarks associated with Cohen (1988), all three estimates are large, with flavor the largest, followed by color and aroma. Because the three analyses are separate and the ratings come from experts rather than consumers, this ordering is descriptive and does not by itself show that the attributes differ in their effect on consumer satisfaction. The findings are discussed against recent consumer–sensory research showing that expert and consumer priorities can diverge, and the paper outlines practical measures for standardized sensory control, assessor training, and consumer-level testing in the Iranian tea industry, together with a design for a follow-up study capable of testing the attribute–satisfaction relationship directly.