Appearance
Fill a cup with sake about 80% full.
Check the cloudiness and color. If the contrasting lines between the blue and white of the cup are clear, the clarity of the sake is good.
Ordinary sake have a light yellow tint or a light amber hue. Sake tends to get darker as getting older.

Smell
Smell, as same meaning as aroma, fragrance, nose and bouquet, is one of the most important elements in appraising sake.
First bring the tasting cup closer to your nose and smell the "top" of the sake. Next, lower your nose into the cup to smell the "base" fragrance.
Professional sake tasters use more than ninety words to describe the smell of the sake.

Taste
First, take a small quantity of sake and push it all around your mouth. After making sure that the sake has reached all the taste buds, then slowly breathe the air out through your nose. The aroma of the sake in your mouth will fill your nose, giving a much more intense impression of the smell and taste of the sake.
Next, check the 5 tastes, sweet, dry, acidity, bitter and astringent, and the balance of them in the sake.
Finally, swallow (or spit out) the sake in order to test "tail" of the sake.