On tea themed gatherings, and a local one hosted by Sasha

the perfect size for a small gathering:  small

rough version of a two picture composite photo, his Bangkok apartment view

Typically I wouldn't mention such an event, gathering with a few friends for tea, or meeting new people, unless there is a clear point.  I'm returning to the idea of holding or speaking at events, still in the planning stages, and this ties in with what would work for that, and might also give others ideas for hosting small and informal gatherings.  Sasha is this guy; he and his significant other Nok have turned up in lots of outings mentioned here.

As background context, I just took a week off tea, which doesn't come up so often.  I don't think caffeine and whatever else is in tea is all that potentially dangerous, even long term based on high exposure, but I still try to moderate the habit anyway.  For me that includes getting a break from caffeine once a year or so.  It's also about just taking a break, to keep it from getting too routine.  I made sure to drink a decent amount the day before this gathering, just to help adjust, in case this session went long.  I could say more about how quitting cold-turkey works out, or how I use very limited caffeine input to taper off on breaks, but that's all a complicated subject.

breakfast on a Koh Chang hiking day; they had this strange tea substitute

This made for a good chance to meet an online-associated local tea enthusiast, Pop / Danitha (Thais essentially always have a nickname and a formal name), and her boyfriend Yusuke.  Credit for these tea photos belongs to her; I tend to get too caught up in talking to get around to that.  It's an unusual extra connection that she recommended the tea source in Vietnam for the sheng from there in an online discussion, a tea I'll say a little more about here, and will review later; cool how the themes interrelate like that.

In addition to describing the details of this outing this is also about what might work and might not for informal gatherings, for other tasting formats, but still I'll start with an account of what we tried during that visit.

nice and basic set-up, just enough to cover the function, with no extra stuff

We drank a half dozen kinds of tea or so, a good amount, and all interesting and unique kinds (all but one of which Sasha provided; he is good about sharing novel teas).  Those sessions tend to not follow a very tight tea category subject theme and this time we started on white, tried a Vietnamese sheng I really liked, and moved onto some black teas.  It seems to make sense to taste lighter to heavier and those more or less followed that pattern.  Sheng is complex enough that it doesn't naturally fit well into being considered light or heavy, but placing the tone in between white and black works.  Following that pattern if we'd drank an aged sheng or shu it would go after a young sheng, and still probably before black tea, but it didn't come up.

Two silver needle or silver tips whites were kind of subtle (how that goes), and one moonlight-white looking atypical white version was a bit towards sweet and savory, pleasant and interesting for being novel.  I think that I've only ever tried one golden snail black tea version before, a coiled-style tea that seems to more or less resemble a black-tea version of bi luo chun.  It was nice; the character was light but really pleasant.  A golden needle was a bit similar but even more subtle, and a good version of jin jun mei was heavier for having a heavy enough flavor tone that it almost seemed like a roasted tea.  There is no such thing as roasted black tea, I don't think, it was just oxidized more and worked out like that.  It covered a lot of range in interesting teas.

The others present didn't seem all that taken by the Vietnamese sheng; so that goes.  I think I've grown to love that characteristic "more local" sheng range, how Vietnamese, Laotian, and Thai Northern region sheng versions seem to be.  The flavors and style might be a little off what is typical for Yunnan versions, an idea I'll be coming back to soon enough in posts here, a couple more times.

golden needle, or at least that's how I thought of it

unusually shaped black tea, sometimes called golden snail, I think

looks like a Moonlight White (Yunnan version) but I'm not certain it was

a stem-only version I left out; this was nice, subtle and pleasant

Onto the second theme about what works or doesn't work in small gathering tastings, getting back to more about how it went on this one.

Tasting or tea event variations

Narrow theme:  we didn't go there, but for experienced tea enthusiasts who already know each other more (limiting the social introductions scope) a very narrow tea-type theme would work best.  It's easy to compare teas to other very similar teas; it makes it easier to match up minor differences and get a feel for what really stands out from a common baseline (eg. thickness in feel, length of aftertaste, sweetness or bitterness, flavor complexity, overall balance).

Switching between category types moves away from that comparative referencing.  It can get to be a bit much to experience; tasting a half dozen completely different teas in a sitting could easily just become a blur of varied input, while trying that many that are very similar would just be a bit much, with 4 or 5 an easier number to focus on.  If the focus is on the social aspect all that matters less anyway.

a Yiwu village themed tasting event, hosted by Bank (Thaneadpol), on the left

Setting a schedule or conversational tone:  it would be natural to set a very narrow tone for tasting process in some settings, making it more like a wine tasting class.  A central authority on a subject might act as more of an instructional leader or guide.  I wouldn't typically be as into all that; it's nice to talk about other subjects just as much or more as the tea.  Then again it depends on what you are tasting, with who, and why.


In a more social outing when people don't know each other initially random, fragmented conversation can make a lot more sense, which matches up well with not really trying to critically assess the teas, or to compare them to each other.  A local tea expert (of sorts; that's almost always a relative designation) / online contact held a tasting once more along the lines of a wine tasting that followed that premise and structure; everything I discuss here will relate more to themes along a spectrum of a few friends gathering, or something else more in the middle.

meeting a local tea authority at my favorite shop (Kenneth of Monsoon at Jip Eu)

Setting:  this has been coming up as a stumbling block related to doing other public versions of tastings, like that one in a park or in a local zoo.  For a very limited number of people tasting in someone's apartment is perfect, sitting on cushions on the floor in a small circle.  That would work well up to including around a half dozen people; for a group of 8 it just wouldn't hold up as well, and beyond that it wouldn't really work at all.  The park theme was cool for being different, and outdoor, but the noise level in a zoo food-court area for another event really took a lot away from what one could notice about the teas.

Air conditioning is something of a must for tasting now in Bangkok; it's in the upper 30s these days (C; that's upper 90s in F).  I do review tastings around noon now when it's exactly that hot without AC but I've been drinking hot tea in hot weather for years, so it's just normal for me.  The only work-around required is using a napkin to wipe the sweat from my forearms off the keyboard.

trial run at public tea tasting; that guy was an interesting addition

Timing:  tasting in the late morning or early afternoon works, but even drinking a lot of tea in the late afternoon wouldn't match everyone's daily cycle.  We tried to start at 10:30 for this event and of course I ran late; unfortunately that's normal for me.  It might seem like drinking tea for an hour could relate to drinking a lot of tea but 2 to 3 hours works better for a time-frame, given a slow pacing to trying lots of teas, over many very small cups, with plenty of time for conversation.  Tasting one or two teas for a written review can take a good bit over an hour, with some allowance for messing around; the focus on round after round takes time.  I can't relate to the endurance-session theme some people mention about drinking tea non-stop for six hours, burning through a dozen versions or more.


For larger group size:  this moves onto considering what else might work.  Those group gatherings for public tastings did run slightly larger, up to 8 or so people per event, and I've been considering how to go further.  It's way too much of a concession to switch to Western style brewing, but that would enable tasting by 15 people or so, easily enough.  I can only think that having two people pour tea in two groups might enable extending gathering size up to around that level (15).

In theory Gongfu brewing is really about proportion, not the device used or specific quantity, but I could do without ever attempting to brew a half-liter at a time for a large-group tasting by somehow ramping up the same proportion at higher volume to a Western-brewing scale, just based on different ratio and timing.  Someday I probably will try it though, Gongfu brewing at high volume in large ceramic teapot.

Unless there is some formal function demand it would seem like going further to having three or more groups would be too much (but this older 2007 tea blog post covers an event where that made perfect sense given the context, was planned in detail, and worked out).  Even doing two group tastings in one session trades out everyone missing half the discussion and personal association at the event, and doubles up the logistical concerns (gear required, water, setting, matching parallel structure, form, and timing, etc.).

in the middle as events go, small but a little structured

Mixing intro and advanced themes:  this never seems to come up, but at some point it might be a real concern.  Anyone could have appreciated the teas we tried that day but it would seem natural to switch themes if a more narrow-focused tasting was the idea, and to focus more on the tea versus conversation.  In a sense it doesn't matter, but for people already really into the theme and drinking rarer teas the focus might tend to shift on its own.  We barely even commented about the teas at this social gathering, more focused on the thread of discussion, which works for me.  Description doesn't do tea experience justice anyway, it's more something you just do, and I overwork that theme in this blog writing.


Adding background discussion, mixing event themes:  I've been considering this related to doing a health-interest group function event here.  Before those two open, casual tastings I held a couple of more structured events designed to serve as introductions to the subject that were different in tone, one an actual presentation, the other a small-group tasting (in the last picture).  All that would seem to link up well with a narrow-type focus, something like exploring teas from an area, or within a type, to set up focus on the general type, or enable exploration of more minor differences.  Rolling in a secondary underlying theme, like the health aspects of tea, might lead in that direction.  A more set time-table might make it trickier, if the point is to combine tasting and group discussion, especially problematic for larger group size, over 8 people.  I'll see how that goes.

at an expat subject presentation event, more or less

Shop based tasting events:  this always seemed like the most obvious way to work around these issues, to base an event out of a shop.  That would simplify staffing, role assignment, related gear use, and timing, since the location would already be set and time-frame could be an open span of 2 or 3 hours.  I've considered setting this up for some time but haven't just yet.  It's a huge trade-off to just present teas from that shop, and shifts theme to ordinary marketing, and I may never choose to go there.

I've met friends at my favorite shop, a good number of times, so maybe it will have helped experiencing a really informal version of such a theme before.  It's cool how at Jip Eu, my local favorite shop, sometimes the owner will share teas he doesn't even sell (more often than one might expect), so it's not really just product promotion.

Again it all wouldn't work as well if the participant count increases, within a really narrow range.  Back at the outset of planning those public tastings I had thought through last-minute work-arounds for variance in participants (eg. mix in a round or two of Western-brewed tea), but the simplest fix would be to control and limit the number.

a local Seven Suns cafe event; that was an exception

a cool tasting in a Moscow bookstore, with Laos Tea, Alexander and Dasha

always great seeing that baby try it out; Huyen and her nephew on location

Top 100 tea blogs list critique, and about tea review

Originally posted as:  tching.com/2018/06/top-100-tea-blog-list-critique/


I recently saw an online group post about a top 100 tea blogs list, which I'm critiquing here.  According to the listing part of the criteria is as follows:

"The Best Tea blogs from thousands of top Tea blogs in our index using search and social metrics."

Facebook and Twitter follower counts are cited, so there is some justification, although for some entries both are listed as "n/a."  I'll mention what they missed, and why the list doesn't work related to that.  Of course many of the entrants are good blogs and reference sites, with a lot of familiar names:  World of Tea (which changed names and theme), TChing, Tea DB, and Tea For Me Please.  It includes some of my favorites:  My Thoughts are Like Butterflies, Oolong Owl, Sororitea Sisters (good for basic reviews), and Lord Devotea's Tea Spouts, which is nice for opinion posts (rants).


A lot of entries are sales sites.  If a vendor creates reference content that's a different thing, and many do also put out a blog.  Evaluating if content transitioned from product marketing description to actual background information would be difficult (if a blog really is a blog).  The Hojo vendor articles seem like a good example of such an effort; they create nice articles, even though I'm not sure their content is 100% accurate.

What's missing might be a bigger problem than what's there.  I'll cite my FB group discussion comments about that:


It's missing Steep Stories, Tea Geek, Tea Addict's Journal, The Half Dipper, Death by Tea, Tea in the Ancient World (my own blog), and the Global Tea Hut's magazine.

Also Tea Master's Blog, probably the best reference about Taiwanese oolongs, and Tea Journeyman, a good basic review blog.  Tea Obsession is now inactive but the old posts are a great reference on Dan Cong.  Mattcha's Blog has moved onto other scope, after a period of inactivity, but old posts are still a great reference on Korean teas. 

Steep Stories is my favorite blog, and for overall reference Tea Addict's Journal is pretty far up the list, definitely top 10. Tea Geek is mostly inactive now but still a good reference blog. My Japanese Green Tea is the best Japeanese tea reference blog I know of, and Puerh.fr is a great classic pu'er reference site. 

This list is just not a well-informed effort.  



It is what it is, a blog ranking site that cuts and pastes search results material, a Top 100 Tea Blogs list that stops at number 86.  If a bot made that list then it's not a very thorough bot.  I checked the Top 60 Whiskey Blogs list there and that leaves off at # 53.

What goes into a good tea blog?  About tea review methodology. 

Whatever someone happens to like in a tea blog defines what is good, so any list would be subjective, unless it was only an attempt at ranking stats.  Stories can be nice, or a lifestyle theme, about everyday experiences, or research.  If the criteria used is Facebook and Twitter followers along with Google search metrics that actually sort of works; it's clear and objective.

I'm not implying that tea reviews are at the core of a good tea blog (although many are only that, for content), but I did comment on how those map out further in that online discussion.  It related to a criticism by someone else that many blogs aren't informative, that they really don't describe how good the teas being reviewed are.


It's natural for reviewers to not want to say negative things about teas, to communicate what is positive instead, probably at least partly related to being given free samples for review.  A reviewer skipping mention of teas they don't like only solves part of the problem.  No matter how that's cut off there would always be some boundary condition, or aspects that don't work as well in some teas, or typical attributes that could be there but aren't. Different bloggers deal with all that in different ways. 

Some reviews express so little description that this particular problem hardly comes up, but that's an exception. More often bloggers include no subjective content at all, to the degree that's even possible, mentioning aspect descriptions but not how much they like the aspects or tea in general. It works better than it sounds but that approach skips a lot. 

There are two other potential approaches that tend to never come up: placing the tea quality on a scale related to what else they've tried, or evaluating trueness to type, if it's what one would expect from that version. Bloggers almost never mention value either; teas are sold as better or worse with pricing indicating that level, implying it. If you buy one Longjing for $8 per 50 grams and a second for $25 you'd expect the second to be better, even if the descriptions were a close match. There's no way to really wrap all this up in the form of conclusions, just talking through the background a bit.


Of course actual vendor pages are something else; they're describing what they sell, and may or may not include any other content.  Lots of vendors do go further but more don't.

Even if a person did try to evaluate tea review or research theme content, versus condense a Google search ranking, they would need to be very familiar with tea to do so.  That listing site, Feedspot, seems to be more an automated rating system with a link forwarding function, like Bloglovin (a feed reader), designed to also include ranking along with subject type sorting.  At least it did work well as a starting point for talking about my own favorites and what goes into a tea review.

follow a really nice tea blog here

Imagination and subjectivity in tea tasting, with blogger and expert input

I've been considering a crazy idea about how internal mental processing of tea tasting goes, and decided to ask some favorite bloggers for input on tasting process.  The following is where that led.

Starting point, request for input, and some crazy initial ideas of my own

I'll start with a description I passed on to one of them with the request for input, a mix of some odd ideas that never did summarize particularly well:


I'm working on a blog post that is based on input about tea tasting, one very narrow and unusual aspect, and I'm asking you for help with that.  It's about something I've been considering for awhile, the possible role of imagination as an interface between more raw sensory input and description, analysis.

The standard take, per my understanding, is that flavor description for tea is essentially a memory function supported by practice and training, so no mental function related to imagination needs to be invoked.  Of course taste is only one aspect of tea, but this limitation--considering only flavor descriptions--seemed a good way to narrow scope for discussion and input.

Even if imagination does play a role that function should be subconscious, I shouldn't be able to notice it, but I could swear I seem to. Of course I'm still talking about objective experience, picking up flavor elements others would be likely to agree are there, although variations in perceptions related to this are interesting, people noticing relatively different aspects.


So the initial question wasn't really if tea tasting and evaluation is subjective, but rather if it's possible to say more about how it works, the internal mental processing of taste into description.  Actually liking tea aspects has to be subjective, and to some extent comparisons of flavor aspects must be objective, with more coming up about that in the input.

Geoffrey Norman:  author of one of my favorite blogs, Steep Stories

Most discussion input I'm citing from him here isn't about internal tasting process but it does work for a nice intro to a standard review approach, along with a description of how he deviates from that:


When I first got into tea reviewing back in 2008, I was contributing to another website - Teaviews. When I was on there, I tried to stick to the typical review format, but I tried to add my own flare to the introduction. Of course, I always began with a background about the tea, about the company selling it, a personal anecdote of some sort. 

Then this was followed by tea leaf descriptions - size of leaf, aroma, color, etc. 

That was then followed by brewing instructions.  Next after that, taster notes,  And lastly, closing anecdote. 

For the most part, I still stick to that sort of format, but I've now structured the narrative to be more story-like. It's what I prefer, aesthetically. What few readers I have seem to appreciate it, too. 

As for how my taster notes evolved . . . they really haven't. To tell you the truth, I deviate from the standard taster practices almost as a personal mandate. Sure, some standard notes are in my lexicon - floral, chewy, herbaceous, etc. - but for the most part, I like to record what my sensations are in real-time. What you see on the page is EXACTLY how I'm feeling about that tea - right that moment. 


Really that's what I like about his writing, the story-based aspect, and also the non-standard use of descriptions that enable you to share in his experience by any means necessary.  He doesn't push the flavor-list style of reviewing, and sometimes will rely on comparing a tea as in between two other styles, which is unconventional, but it can really work.

I'll add a bit more he passed on about the subject I had described as a starting point, about an internal process:


Taste, like a person's memory and imagination, are purely subjective. 

I think [the ideas about the role of imagination] also has something to do with what I heard about from a Taiwanese tea seller.  It's not just about the taste, it's also about the sensation.  And that triggers the imagination.


Interesting, right?  He is either saying that taste preference is subjective (most likely, or at least including that), or that there could even be variances in what is tasted, with completely different aspects described.

In truth we see in reviews that people experience teas in vastly different ways, not just related to preference but in how they describe teas in terms of basic flavor components. Of course the experience itself isn't just about a list of individual aspects, it relates to the feeling the experience invokes, the last part mentioned.  More on all that follows.

Amanda Wilson; another favorite blogger (My Thoughts are Like Butterflies)

Amanda writes very detailed blog post tea reviews, with a good bit of rambling about whatever else comes up in them, to me an interesting mix.  She talks about one thing that might help her write reviews in a different way:


I think due in part to the way having autism wired my brain, I perceive the world primarily through taste (this gets me into trouble at times) my memories of tastes are significantly stronger than any other sense. Not sure how much help I will be since I am 'special.'

I get asked a lot how to train to make taste as strong as mine, so to speak, and I never really know what to say other than go experience a lot of things. It comes off better than 'be born with a broken brain.'  

The exact term for it is Sensory Processing Disorder, I go on the 'over stimulated' end of the spectrum.  It is a comorbidity with Aspergers.  Autism is an annoyingly complex spectrum.


Cool!  And definitely different, a line of thought I had never considered.  Really there is too much there to go deeper in this type of post so I'll just leave it as some interesting input about the way people's minds and sensations really can and do differ.  Leaving objectivity and subjectivity aside, with the basic experience varying the description and response to that experience would naturally also vary.

Micheal Coffey (Tea Geek blog, and he's got other things going on); input from an unusually well informed tea enthusiast

After some initial discussion of that background Michael recommended looking into a great resource:  "Taste What You're Missing" by Barb Stuckey.


Taste is influenced by all kinds of things.  One example that Stuckey uses is that of airplane food.  It sucks, right?  Well that has more to do with how loud the engines are than with how cheap the company is.  If you tasted airplane food with the engines quiet it would have a totally different flavor.

And that's the big difference.  You don't experience "taste" (the raw sensory input), you experience "flavor" (a mental construct that blends multiple sensory inputs into whatever you experience).  This may be where your idea of imagination comes in.  

Also, the need to "refresh the palate" because you've been tasting too much tea, or one flavor is bleeding into the next is a similar effect.  It doesn't have anything to do with your actual taste organs, but with how the mind is putting them together.  When you smell a funny smell but eventually it fades?  That's your brain just ignoring that input, not a change in your olfactory nerves.

I've heard that first point before, and have considered it related to trying to taste tea with the sounds of Legos crashing together in the background at home.  It seems to not just relate to noise but stimulus in general, so that the more engaged I am in whatever is causing the problems (like two kids fighting versus them just breaking toys) the further I get from a full experience of tasting.

All in all some great input, some connections one might not normally make, really what I'd hoped to get out of this sort of input process.  This digs a little deeper into how if the basic experience of tasting varies with environment and related to factors in individual processing even any one person might experience a tea differently at different times, beyond differences that could relate to different people having varied impressions.

Citing a chocolate blogger on subjectivity in tasting (Lisabeth of Ultimate Chocolate Blog)

A chocolate blogger gave some great input on an earlier blog post that is worth considering here, that fits in with some other ideas, presented in that earlier blog post in a Q & A format:


my question:  To what extent do these seem like subjective judgments to you, that different people would cite different taste elements for the same chocolate?


Lisabeth's answer:  Certainly chocolate tasting is subjective to some extent. Everyone tastes food differently, and so will relate the flavours they taste in chocolate to different foods. In the case of Madagascar-origin chocolate, for instance, the chocolate is so clearly fruity that most people will identify that as a flavour in chocolate made from cocoa beans grown in Madagascar. But whether they taste raspberry versus grape or lemon, is a whole other thing. 

What we taste is also dependent on what we eat prior to tasting. It is important to give yourself one-to-two hours without eating or drinking (other than water), prior to tasting chocolate.


More on subjectivity and yet another input; our sense of taste will vary based on what we are eating, not just then but for hours prior.  This is probably a good place to mention that Lisabeth is not just a veteran chocolate blogger but also a chocolatier, a chocolate maker, so her experience with tasting extends beyond review blogging into daily experience.

Time of day seems to make some difference to me too.  That haziness some people experience in early mornings seems to extend to my sense of taste as well.  All the same I tend to write notes for tea reviews when it comes up, not by tuning my sense of taste based on optimum time of day and eating patterns.  I try to compensate by tasting teas more than once for reviews, and often different aspects will come up, but I really see my review role as providing an informed impression of a tea, not laying out an objective last word.

My wine guru input; advise on tasting from a wine maker

looks like, but not him

My friend Dan, a very experienced professional wine maker, independently mentioned a point that overlaps with Lisabeth's, that prior personal history is a factor in tasting.   Related to his wine making resume, I could mention some wineries and then you would be impressed, but only if you follow higher end wines.  According to Dan people taste what they expect to taste, to some extent, which depends on lots of factors.  Preconceptions and the other senses' input come into play, and their history of tasting other things.  This ties in to a common idea cited in taste-testing process articles, of even experts getting attributes completely wrong when white wines or pale beers are dyed to look like a different type.

It's odd how much Dan restated Barb Stuckey's ideas about how tasting works in general, but I guess that makes sense since they're both working from the same current awareness.  If you don't get around to reading her books there is a nice Google Videos reference of her presenting a summary of some ideas.  In particular he essentially repeated the parts about the role of taste versus other sense elements, and the description of what astringency is.  The main point is that astringency is not a taste element, definitely not the same as bitterness, and not even a flavor aspect, it's a "feel."  She described astringency as an irritant that can be pleasant in moderation (towards the last parts of that Google Videos reference).  Of course Dan took that same line of thought in the direction of this element adding body and structure to a wine or tea. This is familiar in the world of wine and to a lesser extent common in tea description.  Even if the description is typically not clearly defined people are noticing the same effects, that feel and taste are two different things, of course with some relation in the final overall impression.

In discussion with him I never did get to the point of breaking tasting process analysis down to some manageable defined subset.  His approach to wine tasting is intentionally holistic, leaving space for subjectivity in the tasting process, and he sees enjoyment as the main goal and condition.  In discussing objectivity, or the limitations of that, Dan wouldn't say that people generally taste things that aren't there, although he said that can happen.  Instead he said that judgment and experience are based on past experience and preferences, so that different people won't prefer or even notice exactly the same things.  The issue that identified lists of flavors can vary--whether or not there is a "right answer" for taste analysis--seemed essentially separate from the main point to him, the experience of subjective preference.

Dan!  I'll leave in his stand-in picture for comparison though

Of course I'm coming to the problem from a tasting and review writing background, so in the end written description has to occur in some form.  It serves as an assumed goal to make the review as objective and descriptive as possible, although people go about that in different ways.  


Dan didn't seem to see a relatively complete and objective description as a workable goal, but then we didn't extend discussion to the number scoring system for wines, the natural place that would lead.  I would expect that his feedback about that gets a bit complicated, not completely rejecting objective analysis, but likely limiting how relevant such a thing can be to pinning down subjective preference.

To clarify all this he drew an analogy to physical beauty:  what defines a beautiful woman or man for one person is not the same as that preferred by another.  This did lead to an interesting related point; beauty in people does relate to one absolute, to preference for symmetry.  He compared this to the balance that people seek in wine, or tea.  Their preference for type and characteristics could vary widely, and certainly does, but in some sense the different elements coming together in a balanced form is a general underlying preference.

Of course the physical symmetry is a bit more clearly defined, the left eye looking like the right eye, and so on, whereas taste balance is about things like sweetness existing in proper proportion to level of astringency, which all lead back to a more subjective realm.  But it's a nice analogy, the kind of input only a guru would end up bringing up.

Kevin Craig; former author of the Tea Journeyman (a great review blog)

Kevin isn't actively reviewing these days, but when he was his reviews were so detailed and clear and flavor-description oriented that they really got the sense of the teas across, even the feel, to some extent, which is not so easy to do.  He gave some good input on the process:


I would be able to separate the tastes, and individually identify that there were a certain number of tastes that I was experiencing. Yet, some of the tastes I could not specifically define. For example, was the taste lemon, or another citrus fruit? Was it papaya, or another tropical fruit? Is that wet stone, or another mineral?

I agree with you that when you are familiar with specific tastes more than others, you tend to identify those familiar tastes, perhaps even when they are not truly there. Case in point, the cherry taste, which is easily identifiable. I swore I was able to taste cherry in so many teas that I began to intentionally leave it out of reviews just to avoid redundancy. Like you, I began to question if I really was tasting cherry, or just convincing myself that I was.

Additionally, I recall tasting the same tea months separated from writing the original review, and I experienced totally different tastes. Same steeping parameters, same exact tea kept in proper storage, but my taste had evolved.



I have this experience from time to time, catching something that I had missed, sometimes even something that seemed obvious.  But I could never be sure it related to my taste evolving, or somehow really "getting" the tea after more introduction, or exactly what variation led to it.  This almost seems to supercede the idea that objectivity may or may not be available across multiple reviewer inputs, if tasting can vary according to an individual at different times.

Conclusion

me!  that really should be tea, not ramen

There is too much here to really wrap up.  I had planned to include more on research of the initial subject, how internal taste evaluation actually works, a bit about brain functions and such, and there is a little out there as references on that, but this is already a bit much.  I'm much indebted to these people, who have each been my teachers in different ways, for that previous help and for helping bring these unusual observations together.


If more turns up I'll continue this review, perhaps further in that original direction, or to wherever else it leads.