When in Taipei a few years ago, ethan, Bok and I went to Wistaria. We discussed tea tasting on the way and things to avoid before a tea appreciation session. Ethan and Bok both agreed that bananas left a film on the tongue that affected tasting. I hadn't noticed this at the time, but I have also found this to be true.
I've found brushing your teeth and cleaning your tongue, and then eating something light before a tea session (e.g., crackers) to get rid of the taste of the toothpaste makes for a clean palate and allows you to fully appreciate the aroma and flavor of your tea. Both ethan and bok suggested clearing out your nose, as well, and that makes a lot of sense.
Fatty and strong-flavored foods predictably have the worst effects on my ability to appreciate tea, so those should be avoided unless you allow several hours for your palate to go back to baseline.
Also I've found smoking to ruin my ability to detect the flavor of anything else, especially cigar smoke. I've found this to be true for appreciating cognac and whiskey as well. I rarely smoke Habanos anymore, but if I do, I'll stick to water!
On Serious Tasting...
Last edited by tealifehk on Thu Oct 12, 2017 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Somehow it seems like blasphemy for me to say anything I do is serious tea tasting but I'll still offer some thoughts.
A chocolate reviewer once mentioned that foods that you eat hours before can throw off your palate. I have no idea about that but it matches that comment in the starting point.
I seem to vary a lot related to sense of taste in terms of picking up more and less at different times, but I'm not sure what I actually taste or notice varies beyond that level issue, about how much. I haven't really sorted out why, so it won't work to pass on anything as advice related to that. I suspect that I'm just clearer at certain times.
Background noise definitely relates to being able to focus. My kids are kind enough to help me explore that by either being a bit loud or really, really loud at different times, more or less trying to knock walls down, and when they're not even around tasting goes better.
Related to helping with tasting drinking plain, room temperature water works to clear your palate. We used that at a multiple year (vertical) pu'er comparison tasting recently, both to experience more of the aftertaste of one type of tea (hui gan, I suppose it was), and to help clear that effect for the next round. It was interesting how sweet and complex that water tasted, how the afterimage of the tea imparted so much to the water, which on its own wouldn't have tasted like much at all. It also works to help identify flavor elements in one individual tea version. After you've been drinking one tea for awhile, for a number of sips or infusions, your palate sort of acclimates to that range, and you can experience the same thing in a stronger form by clearing it with water.
I've also heard people say something that might seem to be the opposite, at least initially, that flavor or other aspects seems to build as you drink multiple cups of the tea. The apparent contradiction might come from really talking about two different things. I'm using that technique, the palate cleansing, to bump up how much I notice about aspects for reviewing purposes. For drinking tea just to experience the tea it's not necessary to do that, and may or may not amount to a positive input.
A chocolate reviewer once mentioned that foods that you eat hours before can throw off your palate. I have no idea about that but it matches that comment in the starting point.
I seem to vary a lot related to sense of taste in terms of picking up more and less at different times, but I'm not sure what I actually taste or notice varies beyond that level issue, about how much. I haven't really sorted out why, so it won't work to pass on anything as advice related to that. I suspect that I'm just clearer at certain times.
Background noise definitely relates to being able to focus. My kids are kind enough to help me explore that by either being a bit loud or really, really loud at different times, more or less trying to knock walls down, and when they're not even around tasting goes better.
Related to helping with tasting drinking plain, room temperature water works to clear your palate. We used that at a multiple year (vertical) pu'er comparison tasting recently, both to experience more of the aftertaste of one type of tea (hui gan, I suppose it was), and to help clear that effect for the next round. It was interesting how sweet and complex that water tasted, how the afterimage of the tea imparted so much to the water, which on its own wouldn't have tasted like much at all. It also works to help identify flavor elements in one individual tea version. After you've been drinking one tea for awhile, for a number of sips or infusions, your palate sort of acclimates to that range, and you can experience the same thing in a stronger form by clearing it with water.
I've also heard people say something that might seem to be the opposite, at least initially, that flavor or other aspects seems to build as you drink multiple cups of the tea. The apparent contradiction might come from really talking about two different things. I'm using that technique, the palate cleansing, to bump up how much I notice about aspects for reviewing purposes. For drinking tea just to experience the tea it's not necessary to do that, and may or may not amount to a positive input.
Very interesting about the water. I drink water through the day and drink it to cleanse my palate without even thinking about it most of the time! And yes, water can be a very different experience after a heavy tea session (or even between teas)!
The presence of a cold or virus impairs my palate more than anything else. I can still appreciate tea when I'm moderately sick, but I won't evaluate something new. And I will follow John's lead and thank my toddler and her developing immune system for enabling this empirical observation by rendering me ill with such regularity 
Also going off John, focus and lack of distraction are necessary conditions for seriously (or, better, attentively) tasting a tea. It's like a meditation of the senses.
Smoking would definitely impair me. Food, I don't think has a huge effect, at least not what I usually tend to eat. If I'm evaluating something new, I will cleanse the palate with water and perhaps a cracker. But I always crave tea after a meal, and I think the foods I eat, perhaps by awakening and stimulating the taste-sensorial part of my brain, heighten my appreciation of flavors in tea. And I won't appreciate the tea as much if I'm hungry.
The last big tasting factor, for me, is iteration... I really need to prepare the tea three times over at least three days, to get a handle on it. Even with precisely measured parameters, the experience often varies, from session to session. Some explanations for this phenomenon:
a) Subtle differences, even +- 3-5% in temp, time, ratio, can and do affect the liquor.
b) Processed leaf from the same batch/invoice/pouch can have nontrivial variation on a biochemical level. Or so I've been told.
c) "Both [tea] and humans are organic, varying from container to container and day to day." - Dan Rosenheck, The Economist. Sub tea for wine
Also going off John, focus and lack of distraction are necessary conditions for seriously (or, better, attentively) tasting a tea. It's like a meditation of the senses.
Smoking would definitely impair me. Food, I don't think has a huge effect, at least not what I usually tend to eat. If I'm evaluating something new, I will cleanse the palate with water and perhaps a cracker. But I always crave tea after a meal, and I think the foods I eat, perhaps by awakening and stimulating the taste-sensorial part of my brain, heighten my appreciation of flavors in tea. And I won't appreciate the tea as much if I'm hungry.
The last big tasting factor, for me, is iteration... I really need to prepare the tea three times over at least three days, to get a handle on it. Even with precisely measured parameters, the experience often varies, from session to session. Some explanations for this phenomenon:
a) Subtle differences, even +- 3-5% in temp, time, ratio, can and do affect the liquor.
b) Processed leaf from the same batch/invoice/pouch can have nontrivial variation on a biochemical level. Or so I've been told.
c) "Both [tea] and humans are organic, varying from container to container and day to day." - Dan Rosenheck, The Economist. Sub tea for wine
Well, here in Taiwan things to avoid before having tea is hot pot! And most fruits and sweets. Chocolate is especially bad. At least for the less oxidised, roasted teas. The heavier, roasted, aged or black teas are more forgiving in that sense. If I know I have had some of those foods I pick another tea, often a cheaper, roasted one to not waste the good stuff.
I think the habit of offering tiny treats when having tea in Taiwan must go back to the times when all teas where more or less Dongding style oolongs. Now it does not make much sense for the appreciation of a good tea.
I think the habit of offering tiny treats when having tea in Taiwan must go back to the times when all teas where more or less Dongding style oolongs. Now it does not make much sense for the appreciation of a good tea.
Interesting observations guys! Yes, nothing affects my taste more than illness. I work alone now and rarely get ill! Knock on wood.
And yes, more subtle teas are more affected by what you've had to eat. I think the snacks are to stop people from passing out from low blood sugar, since tea makes your blood sugar drop quite rapidly.
And yes, more subtle teas are more affected by what you've had to eat. I think the snacks are to stop people from passing out from low blood sugar, since tea makes your blood sugar drop quite rapidly.
That is why one hour after a good meal is usually the best time for an extended tea session – distracting flavors gone, body in balance. If one is too full, all the better, tea will help with the digestion.tealifehk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:39 amInteresting observations guys! Yes, nothing affects my taste more than illness. I work alone now and rarely get ill! Knock on wood.
And yes, more subtle teas are more affected by what you've had to eat. I think the snacks are to stop people from passing out from low blood sugar, since tea makes your blood sugar drop quite rapidly.
One hour sounds ideal! I was drinking a lot of espressos after meals in Spain over the last few weeks; good way to stop the caffeine from getting you too wired. Moderate food and tea consumption sounds like the way to go (the moderate path).Bok wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 4:31 amThat is why one hour after a good meal is usually the best time for an extended tea session – distracting flavors gone, body in balance. If one is too full, all the better, tea will help with the digestion.tealifehk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:39 amInteresting observations guys! Yes, nothing affects my taste more than illness. I work alone now and rarely get ill! Knock on wood.
And yes, more subtle teas are more affected by what you've had to eat. I think the snacks are to stop people from passing out from low blood sugar, since tea makes your blood sugar drop quite rapidly.
I definitely try to avoid chocolate before a tasting, or brush teeth and nibble something plan to clear the toothpaste flavor as described above, but.....chocolate can add marvelously to the enjoyment of the right tea. Dark chocolate and gyokuro is an excellent combination to slowly enjoy together....
When I am preparing to try something I really want to taste. The first thing i think of is that I not only brush but I also floss and then I use my water pick but I don't use mouthwash. the flossing and water pick are the most important part. I also have a tongue brush and scraper called orabrush, that I put a little dab of toothpaste and scrub my tongue, I found that it removes stuff I didn't really know it's there and my tongue salivates (in a good way). The second thing is either go hungry or what I prefer is to only eat rice and water. Anything else causes me to recall the flavor of what I ate, at least with rice it is never overpowering. The third and maybe most important is being hydrated, it usually takes me about 3 days of no smoking, drinking coffee/tea/alcohol, and relatively consistent water intake. I shoot for 4.5L a day but really get maybe 3 in if I really try, I just like to set a high bar. The fourth and last thing is exercising, both weight training and cardio really flushes out my body and makes me more in tune with how the tea makes me feel. Exercise is usually a daily activity but sometimes I get lazy and don't exercise for a while.
I was astonished by how big a difference a WaterPick made in my ability to taste. I have good oral hygiene but even after flossing a lot of smelly crud is left under the gums. This is best flushed out with a water flosser. Since flavor is mostly aroma, it makes sense to get these food bits out of the mouth. It was significant enough that water flossing is essential to my tasting regimen now.
It may seem rude but I insist that smokers and people with lotions/perfumes wash up with unscented soap in the lavatory. I won’t have them sit for tea with me if I can smell them. If I can smell them from a casual distance then they won’t be able to smell or taste the tea. It’s a waste of my time & materials, and demonstrates a fundamental lack of respect for what we are preparing to engage in.
Body odor doesn’t bother me. Artificial scents, smelly foods, and combustibles are the worst though. Not only are they noxious, they show a lack of consideration. This is why I have no problem insisting that they wash up before approaching the tea table.
Body odor doesn’t bother me. Artificial scents, smelly foods, and combustibles are the worst though. Not only are they noxious, they show a lack of consideration. This is why I have no problem insisting that they wash up before approaching the tea table.
Last edited by Baisao on Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Is it not only a fundamental lack of respect if they are aware of it? They might have no clue about what you are doing, so you can not really expect them to.Baisao wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:55 amIt’s a waste of my time & materials, and demonstrations a fundamental lack of respect for what we are preparing to engage in.
Body odor doesn’t bother me. Artificial scents, smelly foods, and combustibles are the worst though. Not only are they noxious, they show a lack of consideration. This is why I have no problem insisting that they wash up before approaching the tea table.
In the end it all depends on how you communicate your desire for an artificial odor free environment to the guests, respect goes both ways. But I think it goes a bit far to suspect lack of consideration.
If I suspect people do not understand tea, or are it might be throwing pearls to the pigs, I just do not make tea, or a lower quality where I do not mind.
That said, for me tea is best appreciated alone, two at most. More than that and the whole thing gets distracting and makes one lose focus. A good reason to not only have excellent teas at hand
That’s a good point, Bok. They may not even be aware that they smell badly. Further, their sense of smell may have been assaulted for so long that it is no longer as sensitive as it could have been. Yeah, so maybe not so much a lack of respect as obliviousness.
The “pearls before swine” thing has happened to me a few times when hosting strangers who knew each other. They were more interested in gossip than the teas I had curated for the occasions. It happened a few times and I just bailed. I could have served them Hawaiian Wedding Cake Ginger Mint Tropical Black Tea and they would have been just as happy.
The “pearls before swine” thing has happened to me a few times when hosting strangers who knew each other. They were more interested in gossip than the teas I had curated for the occasions. It happened a few times and I just bailed. I could have served them Hawaiian Wedding Cake Ginger Mint Tropical Black Tea and they would have been just as happy.
