Wednesday TeaDay 5/20/09 Intuitive or sensing brewer?

[auggy]

I'm INTJ so I went with intuitive. I record my tea experiences to remember what I've done and how it ended up, but I rarely go back to that info, and even when I do, I'll change it up depending on what I feel like doing (mostly my notes are used to determine what I want to reorder). Ironically, though, I have strict rules for my tea making but my rules are created for each different session, change for no reason and I usually have just a general reason why I picked those "rules".

Clear as mud?

PG Tips this morning. Was crap. Had keemun at work. Is much better.

[Aphroditea]

I record my tea experiences to remember what I've done and how it ended up, but I rarely go back to that info, and even when I do, I'll change it up depending on what I feel like doing (mostly my notes are used to determine what I want to reorder). Ironically, though, I have strict rules for my tea making but my rules are created for each different session, change for no reason and I usually have just a general reason why I picked those "rules".

Auggy, I'm the same way!! Glad to know someone else is that way

Morning cup: I decided to kill off Czar Nicholas II before I remembered that I wanted to try that 2008 Shincha I found in the fridge...will do that next!

[Intuit]

For tea brewing, many of us probably use a combination of intuition (fuzzy logic) and sensing (previous experience) for making our decisions for infusion conditions for a given combination of tea, water and brewing vessel.

If you're brewing a difficult tea, chances are you use sensing (and measuring/monitoring) more than intuition, but if your tea choice is an easy brew, you can easily get away with intuition (guesstimate of necessary conditions).

Irish Breakfast; crisp and clear May morning here. Marvelous!

[Chip]

Perhaps I am drawn to Japanese greens because they lend themselves to sensing. I can be pretty extreme, and not very intuitive in brewing, but I am changing over the years. Intuitive comes out in more subtle ways for me, while I sense with my brewing rather overtly.

Reading the posts, I see sensing traits in some intuitive folks such as Auggy. I have no intuition about it, just sense it.

Chip is brewing Suimei Gyo from Den's, what a sweet and full-bodied tea. Great way to start the day. This could def be one of my favorites!

Need I say more ... except it was very good. I blended 3 grams of SuiMei with 2 grams of Sal's "sweet gyokuro" from a Korean connection (who I really need to track down, this is dynomite!). I intuitively felt this would be a great blend, which it was.

[auggy]

Auggy, I'm the same way!! Glad to know someone else is that way

I think you can do the eyeballing of the tea leaves and get good tea though, yes? I am just a horrible judge of volume so I can't at all. Ah, but it would be so nice to. But I've given up trying. I'll accept my crutch and learn to love it!

Reading the posts, I see sensing traits in some intuitive folks such as Auggy. I have no intuition about it, just sense it.

Yep, I think I'm a blend but mostly intuitive. I'm sensing about the specifics but the I'm intuitive when picking the specifics?

[teashionista]

I do both pretty evenly. Teas that I know well I brew intuitively--I just know that sweet spot of the perfect vessel, amount of leaf and water. This category includes most Indian black teas (except for fist flush Darjeelings) and good oolongs (esp. yancha, Dang Congs, aged TGY, etc.)

I'm a lot more sensor-ish with greens (esp. Japanese), pu-erhs (I still can't judge the amount when I break a piece), and greener oolongs. I am always extremely precise with new teas regarless of variety. As I get to know the tea better though, I move towards the intuitive brewing. Or maybe I'm just lazier with familiar teas

[Pentox]

Hm I work mostly on theory rather than previous history. Granted I apply theory to the previous values to estimate future values. But I like to be adaptive with tea so I don't hold to those values that strictly.

Some high mountain oolong today at work. Forgot to bring in more shincha.

[leiche]

Intuitive, definitely. I judge the amount of leaf by whatever looks right in the pot, temperature by "well, it's boiled and it seems like enough time has passed," and when the tea is ready mostly by smell. I am rarely disappointed with the results.

Time to christen my new yunomi with some roasted TGY, I think.

[brad4419]

I record my tea experiences to remember what I've done and how it ended up, but I rarely go back to that info, and even when I do, I'll change it up depending on what I feel like doing (mostly my notes are used to determine what I want to reorder). Ironically, though, I have strict rules for my tea making but my rules are created for each different session, change for no reason and I usually have just a general reason why I picked those "rules".

Auggy, I'm the same way!! Glad to know someone else is that way

Morning cup: I decided to kill off Czar Nicholas II before I remembered that I wanted to try that 2008 Shincha I found in the fridge...will do that next!

I have a similar problem that I write down notes about brewing sometimes if a tea turns out really good or bad but then they dissapear never to be seen again, either someone throws them away or little elves come at night and steal them to make cookies out of.

[Chip]

Time to christen my new yunomi with some roasted TGY, I think.

Tell us more ...

Sae Midori from O-Cha currently in my cup. Most excellent!

[mangaka]

I'm an INTJ as well, very obviously so too, not in the grey areas at all. So I would say intuitive, but I am open to experimentation!

It's actually quite surprising how there seems to be quite a few INTJs in here. I thought we were supposed to be rare. Maybe that has something to do with us liking tea? XD

No tea today yet.

[auggy]

I have a similar problem that I write down notes about brewing sometimes if a tea turns out really good or bad but then they dissapear never to be seen again, either someone throws them away or little elves come at night and steal them to make cookies out of.

Evil elves!

I'm kind of a nerd - I bookmark the link of each tea I try, tag them based on type and ultimate rating then put my notes in the description box of the link. Usually I include steep time, grams, etc but not always. But they are there if I ever need them. I might have even used them a few times. But mostly I use the notes for deciding what I feel like reordering.

[auggy]

It's actually quite surprising how there seems to be quite a few INTJs in here. I thought we were supposed to be rare. Maybe that has something to do with us liking tea? XD

I was thinking the same thing! Or maybe we are the ones that typically know our Myers-Briggs profile.

[Pentox]

I'm kind of a nerd - I bookmark the link of each tea I try, tag them based on type and ultimate rating then put my notes in the description box of the link. Usually I include steep time, grams, etc but not always. But they are there if I ever need them. I might have even used them a few times. But mostly I use the notes for deciding what I feel like reordering.

You should just post them on a blog. That's pretty much what my blog is.

[kongni]

I use my intuition to guide my senses. I do not own a thermometer and I don't use a timer for my tea. Granted, I do botch a few pots here and there as a result but that's just how I roll