House humidity and smell/taste

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_Soggy_
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Sun Nov 11, 2018 8:55 am

So it is officially fall for over a month here, but it actually is just now dipping below 40 degrees regularly. I usually have a humidifier going in my house if I'm home during the fall/winter as it can be quite dry in the house. Mine broke yesterday and I haven't picked another one up yet and is quite dry in the house. All the teas I've had past two days have been...weird. They just taste not nearly as good and I'm having to push them more than normal for flavor. Has anyone else noticed this before?
Teachronicles
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Sun Nov 11, 2018 9:28 am

I was just discussing this the other day with some friends and someone posted this.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015011 ... stes-weird

It seems, from that article, low humidity (and air pressure) can affect how much we taste sweet and salty, partially also due to not being able to smell as well, which I would imagine affects other tastes as well. All this resulting in food and drinks tasting bland. Could explain what's going on with your tea. I also noticed on a particularly dry day that my tea just didn't have much flavor at my usual brewing parameters, tho, humidity was in the 40s in my house, not 12ish like mentioned in the article.
Ethan Kurland
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Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:40 am

As has been discussed before and as now is a good time to remember, keeping one's abode warm in the winter often means keeping it too dry. When one's nose is dry from the heat in winter, air conditioning in summer, flights on airplanes etc., tea will not taste as good as it actually is. I don't know how much tea leaves change, but I do know I can change a lot. Breathing through a wet cloth for a few minutes 2 or 3 times a day might help your nasal passages and taste buds a lot until you buy another humidifier.
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_Soggy_
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Location: Chicago

Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:42 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Sun Nov 11, 2018 11:40 am
As has been discussed before and as now is a good time to remember, keeping one's abode warm in the winter often means keeping it too dry. When one's nose is dry from the heat in winter, air conditioning in summer, flights on airplanes etc., tea will not taste as good as it actually is. I don't know how much tea leaves change, but I do know I can change a lot. Breathing through a wet cloth for a few minutes 2 or 3 times a day might help your nasal passages and taste buds a lot until you buy another humidifier.
The odd thing is I have known this before, but i really didn't experience it. I definitely notice a boost in smell and even breathing after a nice hot shower. I think it is probably because I'm drinking some younger/lighter teas than i have previous years as well as a broken humidifier(though at my last place i didn't have one either, but I drank darker teas as well in winter). I never noticed with dark oolongs/black tea as much. I do agree it is do our body changing vs the tea leaves...at least in the beginning. I am sure 3 months of super dry air will change tea a bit (or a lot in some cases) if exposed to the dry air.
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_Soggy_
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Location: Chicago

Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:43 pm

Teachronicles wrote:
Sun Nov 11, 2018 9:28 am
I was just discussing this the other day with some friends and someone posted this.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015011 ... stes-weird

It seems, from that article, low humidity (and air pressure) can affect how much we taste sweet and salty, partially also due to not being able to smell as well, which I would imagine affects other tastes as well. All this resulting in food and drinks tasting bland. Could explain what's going on with your tea. I also noticed on a particularly dry day that my tea just didn't have much flavor at my usual brewing parameters, tho, humidity was in the 40s in my house, not 12ish like mentioned in the article.
my humidity is around 15-20% right now in the house and I can definitely tell. it was usually 30-40% with my humidifier.
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VoirenTea
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Sun Nov 11, 2018 5:53 pm

Temporary solution: drink tea in a nice hot bath :D
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