Munday TeaDay 4/14/08

[TimeforTea]

I find myself in the category of the obsessive catalogers.

My inventory is just a text document (although I wonder know if I should have used a spreadsheet or an Access-type format for sorting) divided by tea type.

I didn't even use access or excel...you can create a simple table in word and sort by column.

[TimeforTea]

I keep a bookmark in firefox of the teas I've tried (and from what vendor). In the notes of the bookmark, I write descriptions of taste, brewing, a certain number of stars, etc. And I have it set up to search within these descriptions so I can easily find a type or style, click on the link and reorder easily.

White monkey this morning. Didn't use enough leaf, I think.

Just tried citron green for the first time. The smell was driving me nuts, reminding me of some cereal. I finally figured it out. Fruity Pebbles. Seriously. I think I've gone nuts.

Oy, don't even get me started with internet bookmarks!! I have about 7 or 8 separate tea bookmarks.

I can write notes in the bookmark?! You've got my attention now!!

I also had white monkey this morning. It's a fluffy tea, so you do need to make sure you use enough leaf.

Citron green...fruity pebbles?! How funny!! Citron green was what got me hooked on tea...and, yes, I used to eat fruity pebbles when I was a kid...and when I was a college freshman...!

[TimeforTea]

According to my notebook, I have been drinking 40.4% Japanese green since the beginning of the year.

Shucks. I should've set up my inventory in excel to calculate percentages (pouting because someone was more organized)

[TimeforTea]

I decided to put out all the stops and go for the very best tea I own: Long Juan TGY
And now ... I'm happy ... mmmmmmmmmmmmm, good tea.
This tea pushes all the right buttons, mmmmmmm delish.
Life is good.

Phew!!! Relieved and glad to see that life is good again with the Oolong Queen!!

I can't wait to see who wins whom over between Ms. Oolong Queen Victoria and Mr. Japanese Green King Chip!!!

[auggy]

I keep a bookmark in firefox of the teas I've tried (and from what vendor). In the notes of the bookmark, I write descriptions of taste, brewing, a certain number of stars, etc. And I have it set up to search within these descriptions so I can easily find a type or style, click on the link and reorder easily.

White monkey this morning. Didn't use enough leaf, I think.

Just tried citron green for the first time. The smell was driving me nuts, reminding me of some cereal. I finally figured it out. Fruity Pebbles. Seriously. I think I've gone nuts.

Oy, don't even get me started with internet bookmarks!! I have about 7 or 8 separate tea bookmarks.

I can write notes in the bookmark?! You've got my attention now!!

I also had white monkey this morning. It's a fluffy tea, so you do need to make sure you use enough leaf.

Citron green...fruity pebbles?! How funny!! Citron green was what got me hooked on tea...and, yes, I used to eat fruity pebbles when I was a kid...and when I was a college freshman...!

I had DH try some and told him "think cereal". His response - Froot Loops!

I have massive tea bookmarks in my web browser. I use firefox so I don't know if you can write notes on IE bookmarks but you can in firefox if you right click and select "Properties". Then I installed the "Enhanced Bookmark Search" add-on so I can search within the name, location, keyword or description of my bookmarks. It works really well for me and considering I bookmark sites like crazy, I think that is saying something.

I've even got the citron green bookmarked and notated, but I doubt I'll ever search for "fruity pebbles".

[Joe Z]

I don't keep a true inventory although all of my tea is on a shelf where it is pretty visible (all duplicates are in a cupboard on the other side of the kitchen).

I do however keep all of my order 'lists' or whatever you want to call them that Adagio sends with your orders. I flip through them from time to time if I don't know what type of tea I want.

[Salsero]

I wonder why so many teapeople are IT or math or science or at least OCD. This thread seems to bring out that fact, at least the OCD part. Sometimes it seems like I am surrounded by programmers and systems analysts here.

[trent]

Ok, at the start of the day... I had no inventory. Now, I have a spreadsheet w/:
Class , Origin, Vendor, Name, Crop, Size, Stock?, Reviewed?

Is there anything else I can categorize them by?

About the OCD tendencies, I already had my tea organized by class in my cabinet, in the following order: White, Yellow, Green, Oolong, Black, Pu-Erh, Herbal. I have seperate container/divider/trays for each class. Subcategories were: Greens seperated by origin (chinese & japanese) and Oolongs ordered from lightest to darkest.

In terms of teaware, I have all the japanese stuff on one shelf, and all the chinese on another. The matcha stuff is on one side of the japanese shelf, and the other stuff on the other side. W/ the chinese stuff, I have pots on one side, and other stuff on the other side. Think I'm overly OCD? ...I'll bet alot of you are just as organized .

[auggy]

About the OCD tendencies, I already had my tea organized by class in my cabinet, in the following order: White, Yellow, Green, Oolong, Black, Pu-Erh, Herbal. I have seperate container/divider/trays for each class. Subcategories were: Greens seperated by origin (chinese & japanese) and Oolongs ordered from lightest to darkest.

In terms of teaware, I have all the japanese stuff on one shelf, and all the chinese on another. The matcha stuff is on one side of the japanese shelf, and the other stuff on the other side. W/ the chinese stuff, I have pots on one side, and other stuff on the other side. Think I'm overly OCD? ...I'll bet alot of you are just as organized .

I organize my clothes closet by color. Haven't gotten my tea grouped by more than type, though - greens, oolong, black... Though I do have to fight the urge to alphabetize within categories.

[Salsero]

About the OCD tendencies ...

Mr. trent (sic), Our laboratory has completed the initial diagnostic work on your case and the prognosis is not good ...

My own case is similarly desperate:
I have separate tabbed worksheets within an Excel workbook, each for "Wuyi," "Sheng," 'Darjeeling," etc. I include the name of the tea, harvest period if known, what I paid, price per gram, vendor:

• Sheng | 2005 | Green City Peak Arbor | PuerhShop | 20gr sample | $4.99 | .25 per g

and a line for each session:

• 04/02/08 | Brewing: 5.00 g in 120 ml huang ni pot, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 20 s, 30 s, 40 s, 50 s, 4 m (oops)

Then, if the spirit moves me, I jot down some notes like:

• 1st infusion: a little deeper yellow than what I would call straw, aroma in broth of hay, grains, is that a whiff of caramel or is it my
  imagination? Maybe an aroma of sand, I don't know, but some mid-tone smell that is very attractive.
  

Then I hide the whole mess so it can't be used against me in the committment hearing. There's plenty of places to put things like mini photos, links to reviews, copy and paste a description into a comment box, etc. The only reason I use Excel is because it is the only program I know how to use except Solitaire.

[auggy]

Then, if the spirit moves me, I jot down some notes like:

• 1st infusion: a little deeper yellow than what I would call straw, aroma in broth of hay, grains, is that a whiff of caramel or is it my
  imagination? Maybe an aroma of sand, I don't know, but some mid-tone smell that is very attractive.
  

The first time I read this I read "a whiff of camel". I'm still giggling.

[Salsero]

The first time I read this I read "a whiff of camel". I'm still giggling.

ROFL You are so funny. This is from a review of sheng. Everyone knows the camel smell comes from shu. Or at least the smell of toe.

[Katrina]

Though I do have to fight the urge to alphabetize within categories.

Why are you fighting the urge? Alphabetize away!

I think instead of this group therapy curing us, we're just converting others to our side.

[Chip]

Though I do have to fight the urge to alphabetize within categories.

Why are you fighting the urge? Alphabetize away!

I think instead of this group therapy curing us, we're just converting others to our side.

Chronological order is the correct way...by date of purchase..by vendor. Everyone else is clearly wrong. Hmmm, the suppressed minority is very vocal today.

Sakura sencha was very good earlier....

Tonight, later steeps of TKY and sencha.

[Sam.]

Just tried citron green for the first time. The smell was driving me nuts, reminding me of some cereal. I finally figured it out. Fruity Pebbles. Seriously. I think I've gone nuts.

Citron green...fruity pebbles?! How funny!! Citron green was what got me hooked on tea...and, yes, I used to eat fruity pebbles when I was a kid...and when I was a college freshman...!

Of course I had to go and pull out my tin of citron green to take a big sniff. I guess it sort of does smell like fruity pebbles - so strange! I never would have made that connection. Cereal like that's too sugary.