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When I've been eating a lot of vegetable-based foods (or fish), I find that I want to drink high mountain Taiwanese oolongs and floral sheng puers.
When I've been eating a lot of red meat I find myself craving red tea... (currently in this situation and have none!).

My diet naturally tends to flip flop between the two every few months from so I've noticed this trend.

My preference tends to vary according to the season: in colder seasons i drink a bit more teas of warmer nature in sense of TCM, namely more reds, occasional shu or high roast oolong, while in warmer seasons more sheng and oolong, even some greens. However, part of it is also that sheng tends to taste better during warmer period, and i do drink it all year round anyway, just a bit less in the winter.
The connection to your topic, is that similar patterns apply also to my food diet to some extent.

All the time. If I have something rich and savory, or something spicy, I want something sweet like goashan or white tea. If I have something really sweet then I want young sheng. I want black tea when I haven’t eaten yet on a weekday because it’s substantial but not too far to one side or the other in terms of sweet/savory/bitter. It’s like it’s own mini faux breakfast, usually I skip breakfast and eat an hour or two later at work. I tend to want green tea when I have eaten something heavy and need something refreshing.

And vice versa. If I have gaoshan I often end up wanting something more savory later.

I've started eating more meat instead of a more vegetable/plant based diet, and I've lost the desire for young sheng puer and now crave Japanese greens.

I've always been more influenced by the seasons than what I am eating.

Shine Magical wrote: ↑

Sat May 18, 2019 1:29 pm

I've started eating more meat instead of a more vegetable/plant based diet, and I've lost the desire for young sheng puer and now crave Japanese greens.

Interesting. Do you think that is because of the umami found in Japanese greens?

Interesting question. I think my mood, more so than my diet, decides what tea I'll drink. The seasons do however play a small role in that process. I reach for black and roasted tea more often during winters.

On a related note, I've discovered that my culinary preferences often translates to tea. I love herbs and leafy greens which is one reason why I believe I gravitated naturally to green tea. I also enjoy floral flavors such as orange blossom, rose water, jasmine, cardamom, etc. and so flowery oolongs and scented teas were right up my alley.

Dresden wrote: ↑

Sat May 18, 2019 9:26 pm

Do you think that is because of the umami found in Japanese greens?

That’s a fascinating hypothesis. I was vegan for 2.5 years and during this time I mostly drank darker oolongs. I should note that I was able to get umami flavors in my diet with mushrooms, miso, and the novel use of toasted pulses (as used in south Indian cooking). Umami was not something I was craving but that might be because of the way I cooked. I could see how other people might try to make up for it while on a plant-based diet.

Like others, I find my tea affinities to be more seasonal or mood related than diet related. The caveat is after a heavy meal: I always want an aged puer or a clean shou.

i have not noticed this, but on the tea-food subject, i've found that a couple back-to-back sessions of aged sheng can make me ravenous.

Yunnan tea farmers are always surprised when I bring some vegetarian tea tourists Our friends there prepare nice meat rich meals to treat our customers with free range organic running around the village food and I'm usually ending up eating it my self only ..need to give them "mian zi" ;-D
I have to stuff up my stomach with some fat meat before start tasting new shengs "right of the pan" .

aet wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2019 8:03 pm

need to give them "mian zi"

Often more important than insisting on one's own principles, especially if you want to build a relationship. Easiest way without offending them would probably be to say that one is buddhist, to that they can relate.

aet wrote: ↑

Thu May 30, 2019 8:03 pm

Yunnan tea farmers are always surprised when I bring some vegetarian tea tourists Our friends there prepare nice meat rich meals to treat our customers with free range organic running around the village food and I'm usually ending up eating it my self only ..need to give them "mian zi" ;-D
I have to stuff up my stomach with some fat meat before start tasting new shengs "right of the pan" .

That is exactly when I crave young sheng: it seems to cut through a fatty meal like nothing else. The thought of having a very rich tea after such a meal is nauseating.
Count me in for someone very attuned to what I've been eating in what tea I want. I want opposite from what I've been eating. E.g. as an opposite example if I've had a light meal, I'll want some roasted oolong, hongcha, or very umami sencha. My food influences my tastes far more than the weather, though I do live in a more hot & humid region of the US.