Thursday TeaDay 8/13/09 Too much TEA variety?

[Chip]

In my personal experience, definitely YES. Having 50+ teas open and realizing that the freshness timer was running much faster than I could drink them created some stress. So, adjustments had to be made, for instance, I will typically have 2-3 sencha open at any given time.

Also, when I was spread across virtually every "type" of tea and wanting to try every tea from every type, well, it is impossible to accomplish. So, I decided to focus on greens, and I have been very happy ever since.

For me, I had to find the right balance between not enough and too much variety. Occasionally I still sway one way or the other, but I am pretty happy where I am currently.

Began the TD with Kawane asamushi shincha from Rishi, very good! SweeTea certainly enjoyed it as well. Fuji and Pyrit just hung out.

Currently, Gyokuro Sui Mei from Den's with DW. Gandalf was helping with the brewing, I am renaming him Gandalf the Gyokuro wizard.

[miginaustria]

I am beginning to think one can have too much variety, yes.
You just can't devote equal attention to Sencha, Gyokuro, Matcha, Long Jing, Bi Lu Chun, a dozen more excellent Chinese Greens, the incredibly complicated world of Pu Ehr,Yellow and White Teas, High Mountain oolongs, Dancong oolongs, first flush Darjeelings, etc., etc.
There's only just so much time and money. I am planning on having another year or 2 of just exploring every type of tea, but I know that eventually I will have to settle on a couple or at most 3 main "areas of concentration".

[Chip]

... oh, and having too many teas open, takes too long to decide what to brew up next, seriously!!!

Fuji had a good vet appointment today, pretty much a good bill of health.

Lil' Bit has been a bit whacky, so he seems to have what is called Hyperesthesia. Something we can try to ease the symptoms, but not curable, poor boy.

Next tea it won't take long to decide since I do not have a lot open! Maybe the Japanese Black I just recently received from a TCer as part of a tasting.

[MASALACHAAAAIIIIII]

I DON"T THINK SOOOo! Well it is great to have variety for me, I like to have something different each day if possible. But sometimes I might have only blacks/greens in one day. But I always have some masala chai (never the exact same blend though hee hee!) My tea stash is beginning to dwindle, about time to reorder! Try out some new goodie goodies, add even more variety...

Had a cup of masala chai at my local indian restaurant so far today, and talked my grandmother into coming along, hahahahaahah too spicy for her hheeeeeeeee , I forgot my "mild" seems to equal most peoples "extreme" I couldn't stop laughing, poor grandmother---> evil grandson ahahahaha. (I tend to ramble....)

Gonna have some Darjeeling Gopaldhara Wt-1 1st flush next! My palate is ready for the awesomeness! chaaaaaaaaaa

[leiche2]

Never! More than enough is not the same as too much.

Ha, just realized that I've been so busy today that I haven't thought to brew tea since breakfast. I'll just have to go remedy that and enjoy some roasted TGY now. Poor me.

[amarie]

I could never pick just one tea (or one type) to drink and be happy. There's just too many good ones out there that I'd miss.

Spiced Mate' today, as I needed the caffeine.

[Intuit]

The problem is how to optimized choice when available choices are overwhelming. Teas seem to lend themselves to seasonal and time of day consumption, Sorting and assessing teas with respect to their best use is my present goal.

For instance, the warm months do not lend themselves to overly malty and brisk blacks and oolongs. These are stimulating, strongly flavored teas suited for dulled taste buds of early morning in the cooler months. They tend to store well, and are harvested year 'round - good bulk purchase teas, some worth aging, as they can be revived by roasting. Their delicate, cleaner, citrus-y higher altitude cousins make excellent warm season iced teas and cool month mid-day alternatives to oolongs and roasted greens.

Then we have the seasonal harvests, best bought in smaller quantities and consumed within a few months of opening. Sorting the good bang for buck daily drinks versus more expensive teas that add variety and educate the palate is a delightful exercise, as it keeps tea life from sliding into the predictable, or worse, mundane exercise.

The higher altitude lightly oxidized (Darjeelings) and semioxidized middle oolongs tend to be spendier. They, too are good transitional and warm season afternoon choices and make excellent iced teas if they loose their 'zip' as hot tea. They don't store as well as the heavily oxidized teas but are stable enough to be near-daily choices.

The unoxidized greens and matchas seem to be good year 'round later days teas. Crisp, sweet slightly vegetal are good cool month selections; toasty/nutty versions for warm seasons.

Specialty teas that are low yield, highly seasonal or aged are excellent special occasion teas within season, and have their own devoted fan clubs for those who can afford regular consumption.

In this way, it's possible to rationalize an annual rotation of purchases and brewing choices that can be varied year-to-year.

YMMV, depending on your palate, experience/preference, budget, and local water quality. Happily, the internet has revolutionized retail access, and vendor storage and purchase options.

In my cup: Japanese black tea sample, an unexpected and delightful gift.

[sriracha]

... oh, and having too many teas open

...and still not knowing what to brew

That's my problem. At least sometimes.

[shogun89]

too much of a good thing usually turns out badly.

[geeber1]

I would say that if it's stressing you out, you have too much tea.
If it's no big deal, then you have just the right amount!

Irish Breakfast this morning. Right now I'm tolerating a Starbuck's Iced Tea because someone was supposed to meet me there and didn't show up. Bleh.

[Victoria]

AliShan from CS for me this afternoon - so busy, I only got to two sessions today. Too late now, but I so need more.

[entropyembrace]

Never!

My green tea from 2007 still tastes good so I don't stress...I buy what I feel like when I get funds for it. And when I'm picking what to drink...I usually have cravings for a particular tea or just let my subconscious decide and reach for whatever it wants

Honestly I've only experienced staleness from low quality teas that I didn't particularly want to drink when they were new either. The changes in better quality teas as time passes I see as development as they teas begin to age rather than staleness since I'm still getting flavorful, aromatic cups of tea...the flavours and aromas are just subtly different from how I remember when they were fresh.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Yes, too much tea variety can be a not too great thing. I think that a person can get overwhelmed very easily by all the different varieties of tea, not only the general subcategories of green, black, oolong, white, puerh, herbals, et cetera but the subcategories of those subcategories and all of the varietals within those sub-subcategories. Not to mention the differences of flavors between different plantations and years too. I may be thinking way too much into this, but it seems almost impossible to try all of them and to try as many as possible seems a little bit too much for me. It definitely makes life easier to stick a smaller number of types of teas, fully realizing that all are not created equal, but being happy with what you have.

I have a lovely glass of iced mugicha right now.

[Dreamer]

Well, I picked that "yes, definitely" too much variety is a bad thing, but then I read this and it captured my feeling exactly!!!

If loving it all is wrong, I don't want to be right.

This morning I enjoyed Ceylon Kenilworth at breakfast and later at work from my briefcase bullet. My tea buddy at work make an organic English Breakfast...it was pretty good, but I did add half-and-half and stevia to make it more like a foo-foo drink.

This afternoon I got out my aroma cup set and tried a sample of Dong Ding Ming Xiang from TeasfromTaiwan ...loved it...what a great aroma, beautiful peachy-amber color and nice mild flavor.

Sat down this evening to do some re-orders and found that TeaSource is not currently listing my fave Nilgiri Glendale...oh, woe is me

100 years all new people...100 days all new tea!

Dreamer

[geeber1]

Sat down this evening to do some re-orders and found that TeaSource is not currently listing my fave Nilgiri Glendale...oh, woe is me

I KNOW! Woe is me too! I emailed them and they said that they hope to have more within a few MONTHS! I'm being miserly with my Glendale Handmade, but the "regular" Glendale was becoming my go-to tea in the mornings until I ran out. Bummer.