| Term | Definition |
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| Table Cheese | As opposed to a cooking cheese, which gets incorporated into recipes (mozzarella and ricotta, for example), a table cheese is cheese meant to be eaten at the table as part of a cheese plate, on a sandwich or a burger, etc.
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| Tangy | A descriptive term describing a cheese's flavor as sharp, distinctive, flavorsome.
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| Teleme | A very soft cheese at room temperature. Large pieces may have rice flour crust. Excellent as a snack, with crackers or bread, in salads or with fruit. Teleme is a California original. (Mild with slightly tangy aftertaste, White, Soft, cream)
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| Terroir | Pronounced tur-WAH, the French word for soil, land or terrain. The term is used to convey the larger concept "of the land", i.e., how the specific place where an agricultural product is produced bears the taste of that particular piece of land, its specific soil composition and microclimate. In the case of cheese, the grass and other vegetation upon which the animals graze impart flavor nuances to their milk.
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| Texture | A cheese's texture can be soft, firm, supple, waxy, open, close, etc. Texture is largely dependent on moisture content: the softer the cheese, the higher its moisture content. The California Milk Advisory Board
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| Tome Or Tomme | A name for a small or medium-size rustic wheel or mountain cheese. The term originated in the Haute Savoie region of France (the French Alps). Tommes are typically produced from the skimmed milk left over after the cream has been removed to produce butter and richer cheeses (or when there is too little milk to produce a regular cheese). As a result, they are generally lower in fat than other cheeses. The California Milk Advisory Board
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| Triple-Creme Cheeses | Cream is added to the milk to create the richest, most buttery group of cheeses. Triple cremes are a type of bloomy rind cheese and also are aged about two weeks. In order to qualify as a triple-creme, the cheeses must have more than 72% butterfat content, which provides the smooth texture. As with other cheeses that have short aging periods, the flavors are mild and the aromas are subtle.
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| Turophile | A lover of cheese. The word comes from the Greek words for cheese, tyros, and lover, philos. The love of cheese is turophilia. The California Milk Advisory Board
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| Tyrosines | These small, crunchy white crystals in the paste of certain cheeses, are a crystallization of the amino acid, tyrosine, a result of the breakdown of casein(the main protein in milk) as the cheese ripens. Certain aged cheeses, like Gouda, Gruyere, Parmigiano-Reggioano and Piave Vecchio will have a preponderance of them. Most cheese lovers consider the crunchy texture one of the delights of the cheese. The California Milk Advisory Board
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