Yay, package from Sugimoto arrived today. 88 nights is here.
In the cup at the moment: Ippodo Kaboku
What he said.
"I think our old friend Mr. brain chemistry is at work here."
Yep, also competing flavor constituents from your last meal, beverage, drugs-herbals-other supplements, plus flux changes in microbial consortia in the oral cavity over time, related to host health status (oral cavity health, immune function, stress hormone flux, redox state, epithelial receptor activity, etc). Certain oral habits can also impact taste/odor perception, too.
Whether or not you extract pleasure from your tea drinking experience, now that is neuochemistry 'talking'.
Keemun in the cup.
Yep, also competing flavor constituents from your last meal, beverage, drugs-herbals-other supplements, plus flux changes in microbial consortia in the oral cavity over time, related to host health status (oral cavity health, immune function, stress hormone flux, redox state, epithelial receptor activity, etc). Certain oral habits can also impact taste/odor perception, too.
Whether or not you extract pleasure from your tea drinking experience, now that is neuochemistry 'talking'.
Keemun in the cup.
May 15th, '09, 19:06
Posts: 995
Joined: Feb 8th, '08, 14:22
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Contact:
auggy
I thought Nihonmachi was always open? I mean, the stores and the like. Though maybe I've always been there in August? I'm confused. Oh wait, I just looked it up - they have a street fair then! That's so cool! When does the J-pop center open?Pentox wrote:Nihonmachi is in August this year though. I was going to point out that Fremont in July was gonna be on the warm side, but then I remembered you'd be coming off of a Texan summer, sooooo it'll be nice. You'll be a tad to early for the Viz J-pop center opening in Jtown.
I am "fillossofically" opposed to this question. You might find one tea that could be the best tea ever, but what if a harvest down the road is better? What if there is a type of tea that you didn't know even existed that is even better than that one? There are so many teas in the world that you couldn't possibly try every single variation to pick the ultimate best tea for you. There are also all the other factors like personal preferences, mood, and brewing parameters that come into play. I suppose the closest that you could get is the best out of what you have tried so far, with the option to replace the best if you try something better in the future, but then the current best could not be the ultimate if there is a chance of better.
Currently in my cup is hojicha. Not an ultimate tea, but still incredible satisfying.
Currently in my cup is hojicha. Not an ultimate tea, but still incredible satisfying.
May 15th, '09, 22:56
Posts: 20891
Joined: Apr 22nd, '06, 20:52
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Back in the TeaCave atop Mt. Fuji
For me (and I bet I'm not alone) the tea in question would be the one that first gave a hint of what The Leaf really had to offer. In my case it was a high-grown single-estate Ceylon, after years of tea bags and Lord-knows-what-it-is looseleaf blends from a local coffee roaster (!). Suddenly there were all these layers of flavor, and layers within layers, and aromas and aftertastes and all that wondrous stuff; suddenly there was this urge to make tasting notes, and a whole new world of possibilities opened up. In retrospect that Ceylon was probably (undoubtedly?) a perfectly ordinary tea that wouldn't make any impression at all today, but at the time it was a revelation. These days it is not so much about finding the Ultimate Tea as relishing the moment and the infinite variety of possibilities; who knows what my tastes will be a year from now? So I guess I'm another one of those fillossofically opposed to the question.
No tea at all today
(long story), but the sincha arrived on schedule this afternoon, so we know what tomorrow holds.
No tea at all today
(long story), but the sincha arrived on schedule this afternoon, so we know what tomorrow holds.
May 15th, '09, 23:09
Posts: 316
Joined: Jul 23rd, '09, 10:30
Location: Concord, New Hampshire
Auggy -- Nashua's about 45 minutes from where I live. Tea-wise, there's Herbata Tea Bar, but I've never been there so I couldn't say what it's like. So helpful, I know!
Re: the poll -- I've certainly had tea I loved more than my daily fare but, at the end of the day, it was just a tasty beverage. My solution is to drink more tea. It's a quest I can get behind.
Not a lot of tea for me today, I'm afraid, as I was out doing some shopping all afternoon.
Re: the poll -- I've certainly had tea I loved more than my daily fare but, at the end of the day, it was just a tasty beverage. My solution is to drink more tea. It's a quest I can get behind.
Not a lot of tea for me today, I'm afraid, as I was out doing some shopping all afternoon.
May 15th, '09, 23:21
Posts: 495
Joined: Jan 31st, '09, 12:41
Location: midwest, Sanibel wannabe
Contact:
Dreamer
Can't even think logically about this question...
Whenever I am drinking a cup of whatever, I often think, "This is the best
tea ever!" Maybe I'll never find anything that I like better than my current faves, but
who know??!?!?!
And for sure the whole setting (who, what, when, where) plays into the enjoyment of any particular tea session (others already said that much more eloquently).
Today's teas (all were from my Mother's Day orders that arrived yesterday):
Started the day with Teasource, 2012 Ceylon, Lumbini Estate...this was a new Ceylon for me. Very nice.
This afternoon I enjoyed SpecialTeas, 614 Formosa Pouchong. I enjoyed this greatly...I was wishing that my aroma cups had arrived. I had previously had a sample of their 618 Formosa Tung Ting Jade Oolong. I would give a bit higher marks to the Jade, but the Pouchong is very nice.
I just couldn't stop there...this evening I'm having Teasource's 5024 Tung Ting Oolong. This one is nice, but today I preferred the Pouchong (probably should not have had two such similar teas back-to-back).
Have a great tea weekend, all,
Dreamer
Whenever I am drinking a cup of whatever, I often think, "This is the best
tea ever!" Maybe I'll never find anything that I like better than my current faves, but
who know??!?!?!
And for sure the whole setting (who, what, when, where) plays into the enjoyment of any particular tea session (others already said that much more eloquently).
Today's teas (all were from my Mother's Day orders that arrived yesterday):
Started the day with Teasource, 2012 Ceylon, Lumbini Estate...this was a new Ceylon for me. Very nice.
This afternoon I enjoyed SpecialTeas, 614 Formosa Pouchong. I enjoyed this greatly...I was wishing that my aroma cups had arrived. I had previously had a sample of their 618 Formosa Tung Ting Jade Oolong. I would give a bit higher marks to the Jade, but the Pouchong is very nice.
I just couldn't stop there...this evening I'm having Teasource's 5024 Tung Ting Oolong. This one is nice, but today I preferred the Pouchong (probably should not have had two such similar teas back-to-back).
Have a great tea weekend, all,
Dreamer
May 15th, '09, 23:54
Posts: 1574
Joined: Dec 30th, '08, 21:16
Location: The foot of the great Smoky Mountains