Poetry and science in describing the taste of Oolong...

Semi-oxidized tea
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StoneLadle
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Thu Sep 10, 2020 10:05 am

https://teajourney.pub/chinese-descript ... f-oolongs/

I stumbled across this on my newsfeed (obviously my browser has been tracking tea as well) and found it informative and entertaining...

Hope it does the trick for some of you!
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Rickpatbrown
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Sat Sep 12, 2020 11:00 pm

Thanks for sharing. This is a delightful little essay.

Often, I get frustrated with the way tea is written about. Usually, this is related to convincing people to buy it. But, in other cases, it is clear that describing flavor in poetic terms is the only way that we can come to grasp it. It's a type of synthesthesia.

I never connect Yancha with olive oil, either. I'll have to try some good olive oil with that in mind.
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pedant
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Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:06 am

last year, i had the pleasure of meeting the guy behind teajourney.pub (Dan Bolton) and also the author of the article you linked to (Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace).

if you liked that article, her new book is well worth a read:



also, @Tillerman wrote a blog post about it: https://tillermantea.net/2020/02/tea-a-nerds-eye-view/
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StoneLadle
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Sun Sep 13, 2020 2:15 am

Ooohhh.. Lovelace... Now that's a name I'd never connect with tea 🤣🤣
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StoneLadle
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Sun Sep 13, 2020 5:43 am

pedant wrote:
Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:06 am
last year, i had the pleasure of meeting the guy behind teajourney.pub (Dan Bolton) and also the author of the article you linked to (Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace).

if you liked that article, her new book is well worth a read:



also, Tillerman wrote a blog post about it: https://tillermantea.net/2020/02/tea-a-nerds-eye-view/
Ordered the book!
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bentz98125
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Sun Sep 13, 2020 9:36 pm

Thanks so much for the suggestion as good books are especially precious in the socially constrained pandemic life ('pandamonium'?). As I expand the Japanese green origins of my tea horizon, I see a simple answer to what kind of Darjeeling tea I'm drinking is not simple. After reading on one web page that a first flush Arya estate Darjeeling is more a white tea and the second flush more of an oolong, I see Tillerman discussing the Lovelace book: 'Sticking with oolong teas, she says, apparently approvingly that Darjeeling is considered by many to be an oolong. I think she is off base here[7]'. Oh well, as long as 'confusing' doesn't mean 'boring'. Thanks again!

Too general to be tea specific, but not unrelated, I recommend the mind bending: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Review here:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/ ... pener-book
Ethan Kurland
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Sun Sep 13, 2020 10:00 pm

bentz98125 wrote:
Sun Sep 13, 2020 9:36 pm
.... After reading.... that a first flush Arya estate Darjeeling is more a white tea and the second flush more of an oolong,...... that Darjeeling is considered by many to be an oolong. I think she is off base here[7]'
I & others think that Darejeeling & Nepali teas need their own categorization. Identifying them as white, oolong, or black within the world of Darjeeling & Nepali tea is useful but for one to buy some thinking they are like other whites, oolong, or blacks can lead to disappointment.
ArthurHolo
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Thu Sep 24, 2020 3:14 am

pedant wrote:
Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:06 am
last year, i had the pleasure of meeting the guy behind teajourney.pub (Dan Bolton) and also the author of the article you linked to (Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace).

if you liked that article, her new book is well worth a read:



also, Tillerman wrote a blog post about it: https://tillermantea.net/2020/02/tea-a-nerds-eye-view/
thanks for sharing! ordered one for me and one for my friend. can't wait to read it.
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