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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by rdl » Mar 4th, '13, 12:00

redbarron,
chin up. it's said we all have two friends that always accompany us on each side. one who is a positive friend, and one a negative friend. we need both unless we choose to go on our way stumbling over just the words of friends who comfort us. that other friend is there to balance us and keeps us more securely on our feet.
happy tea adventures where ever they take you and thanks for sharing.

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by dshu » Mar 4th, '13, 12:50

[quote="yanom"
The aspirin thing is like bees: no one can explain how they fly, but they do. [/quote]

actually the whole "bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly" is just an old myth!

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by yanom » Mar 4th, '13, 13:00

Even better! :D

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 13:19

yanom wrote: However as for Lim Ping Xiang, I went to a tasting thing in London, and found one thing absurd: he said: 'do this' with the water, now taste the tea and compare it with the tea that used the other water, this first tea is much better right? Of course, I always let you guys decide.

Blame it on his obsession and enthusiasm :D

The guy lives/breathes/thinks/dreams tea.
He has no wife i know of, survived mostly on teaching Mandarin until he could find sponsors, lives from almost no money, has no mobile phone, no car, and is maybe the most generous, content and happy person i have ever met.

Anyhow, thanks for your comment.

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 13:20

rdl wrote:redbarron,

happy tea adventures where ever they take you and thanks for sharing.
:P

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by AdamMY » Mar 4th, '13, 15:05

Cliff Notes on the Conversation so far:
Suggested attempts to understand this phenomena:
Several major theories have been proposed mostly dealing with some aspect of the placebo effect. While the Placebo effect sounds bad, its actually quite well studied, understood, and powerful, and it does work.


Red Barron's Response (Paraphrased for shortness):

"I have no desire to understand, I am perfectly acceptable believing in magic, so all I will tell you is it works, so quit trying to understand it. "

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by teaisme » Mar 4th, '13, 15:17

....:(
Anyways...back to a quote you made Rb.
theredbaron wrote: There are many things we don't really have a logical explanation why things are as they are. Take food, and food preparation, for example. It is quite well known that food prepared on a old style wood or coal fired stove is better than done on a gas flame, which again is better than electric plates. I am not aware of any logical explanation, but having two of the three aforementioned possibilities at home - we do prefer by far our wood fired stove over gas.

Can anyone give me a logical explanation why coal fired stoves are considered to give better tea water quality over any other flame - a concept that is quite well described all over the place?
I would like to take a wild guess :mrgreen: at this one.

I think a lot of it has to do with infrared heat. I'm sure many of you have read things on blogs like Mattchas and The Leaf about how charcoal produces more infrared and has a more 'potent' kind of heat.

In relation to cooking, here is an interesting explanation I came across from a infrared grill makers website about why infrared (and to a lesser extent charcoal since burning charcoal isn't close to 100% infrared) makes food taste better.
Everything in nature is surrounded by a moisture boundary - a stagnate layer of air and water molecules. Infrared or radiant energy can penetrate this boundary without disturbing it, directly transferring its energy to the food with minimum moisture loss. Because food retains more of its own natural juices, it remains tender and juicy. Grills that use hot air to cook dry out food because hot air cannot penetrate food without disturbing the moisture boundary, and once this boundary layer is disturbed, the food is exposed to the drying effects of the hot air as it cooks.
Maybe? Or perhaps just a convenient explanation. You decide. :mrgreen:

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 15:26

AdamMY wrote:Cliff Notes on the Conversation so far:



Red Barron's Response (Paraphrased for shortness):

My only and last response to you at this point is that maybe, after a few more years experience in drinking tea, you may find out that there are many things in tea that you won't find a logical and by hard science proven explanation for - though they are quite true.
At that point you may look back to this conversation here in a different light, and wish you would have displayed better manners.
Last edited by theredbaron on Mar 4th, '13, 15:35, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 15:34

teaisme wrote:
Maybe? Or perhaps just a convenient explanation. You decide. :mrgreen:

Well, the only decision i can make is that the explanation is way beyond my capacity of understanding. So - i won't even try, and comfort myself in the knowledge that even without having a logical explanation for this phenomenon - my food does taste better prepared on the wood stove... and i won't care if someone who hasn't got a wood stove, nor ever tasted food prepared on one, believes otherwise :lol:
Last edited by theredbaron on Mar 4th, '13, 15:38, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by AdamMY » Mar 4th, '13, 15:37

I would like to note that, I never actually questioned that the phenomena was true. I'll just leave this quote:
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
― Albert Einstein

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 15:47

AdamMY wrote:I would like to note that, I never actually questioned that the phenomena was true. I'll just leave this quote:
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
― Albert Einstein

Well, you will have to get over the fact that i am not a tea Einstein then.
To find one - you may have to get off the screen, pack a bag, and go to where you may have the chance to find someone with more knowledge and experience than me. I can only point you to where you may find someone like that.
Which i have done already, i believe.

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by yanom » Mar 4th, '13, 15:49

AdamMY wrote:I would like to note that, I never actually questioned that the phenomena was true. I'll just leave this quote:
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
― Albert Einstein
Well that's a daft quote. Posit:

Person A: never studied science.
Person B: an expert on electricity.

Person A tells his daughter that she can't go fly her kite because there's a thunderstorm outside.

Does person B say: "you don't understand how thunderclouds generate electricity, therefore you are a fool to give your daughter that advice"?

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 15:54

yanom wrote:― Albert Einstein
Well that's a daft quote. Posit:

It's actually not that daft, but not that clever either.
He just told me that he thinks that i am a fool without saying it that directly.
Oh, well... :wink:

And if i am a fool, at least i am a well fed fool with lots of good tea. Could be worse.

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by AdamMY » Mar 4th, '13, 16:00

Actually both of you missed the point, its more regarding the view people should have on life. The Red Barron, I want you to know I have nothing against you, I am just frustrated beyond belief at your outlook on learning which is what the quote was meant to focus on.

Without inquisition our society as we know it would not exist, it is people not just realizing the "what", but then going on to discover the "why's" that have gotten us to where we are today. I am honestly ashamed that you haven't even considered asking any of those why's, and I am baffled that you are content just to sit there knowing the "what." I would feel a lot better if you had honestly entertained peoples questions even if it was with a simple "I don't know." I will leave one more quote, hopefully this ones intention is a bit more straight forward.
“Just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

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Re: Tasting techniques and other similar things

by theredbaron » Mar 4th, '13, 16:16

AdamMY wrote:Actually both of you missed the point, its more regarding the view people should have on life. The Red Barron, I want you to know I have nothing against you, I am just frustrated beyond belief at your outlook on learning which is what the quote was meant to focus on.

Without inquisition our society as we know it would not exist, it is people not just realizing the "what", but then going on to discover the "why's" that have gotten us to where we are today. I am honestly ashamed that you haven't even considered asking any of those why's, and I am baffled that you are content just to sit there knowing the "what." I would feel a lot better if you had honestly entertained peoples questions even if it was with a simple "I don't know." I will leave one more quote, hopefully this ones intention is a bit more straight forward.
“Just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

I think you should go back to my posts, and you can find that on more than a few occasions i have answered in those and similar words - that i simply don't know.

And as regarding to the *why* - there are things in life that you will have little chance to find out why. It is my profession to be utterly inquisitive, and at times have to take enormous risks to do that. But there will *always* be a point where you will come to a wall that you can't cross, and will have to learn to accept it.

A blindfold test, as mentioned here, may possibly only exclude what some called a placebo effect (there are other ways as well). It will still not give one clue of the *why* this phenomenon may be so.
I am afraid only a lab test in a well equipped physics lab *may* give you the answer, or more likely not.
But sorry, i am not a scientist. I can't do that. neither am i an eccentric billionaire who would have the money to hire one.

I am just a person that loves tea. No more, no less.

And yes, i truly believe that there is a logical explanation for everything. That though doesn't mean that i have it, or that i would understand it if it is given to me.

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