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

[Chip]

Good TeaDay everyone. Please make yourself at home and share what is in your cup today.

Yesterday we discussed first flush teas. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Many of us crave variety in the teas we have on hand. But, can too much TEA variety be a bad thing? If so, then when? If not, why not?

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Enjoy the variety you have, have the variety you enjoy!

[Salsero]

Well, I answered, "no," but I have to admit that it seems likely that a lot of variety may limit the depth of one's knowledge in a particular group of tea types. On the other hand, I think sometimes a more intensive experience can provoke a progressively narrower understanding of what constitutes quality, leading to those who argue that only a certain kind of puerh, sencha, or oolong is the real deal and everything else somehow inferior.

This is a wet stored Menghai Dayi cake from Puerh Shop.

[Maitre_Tea]

Sometimes I feel that my passion about so many different varieties of tea is like trying to look in 10 directions at the same time...unless you're Guanyin, who has 11 heads (check under the "Legends" section for the reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin#Gu ... usand_Arms)
Yes, this is the same Guanyin as in Tie Guan Yin. Always good to know where the names of your teas come from...

Anyway, I feel that I should try to balance my purchases of all of these, because I would feel bad if I wasn't giving each tea the equal amount of attention. It makes it difficult sometimes, especially with my interest in Japanese teas and Chinese teas, to make orders because I need to order from different vendors. If only there were a singular source for quality Japanese and Chinese tea (well, The Tea Gallery is carrying Japanese greens, but I think it's a seasonal thing, right?)

Let's see, my interests include: Wuyi, TGY, Taiwanese Oolong, Feng Huang Dan Cong, Sencha, and Matcha...
I'm glad I'm not a big fan of Chinese greens and oh god it's going to hurt my wallet so bad once the Pu'Er bug bites.

[sriracha]

No, I don't think so.

Personally, I'm at the 'buy a variety of tea to see what I like' stage and so I have a collection that's a bit all over the place right now but I expect this to narrow down over the months/years as I become clear about my preferences.
It's fun to open the tea cupboard and choosing tea knowing that I have something for my every need/well almost). =)

Assam Namdang right now. It's cold outside!

[Drax]

I said 'maybe' -- with the assumption that having too many types of tea prevented you from finishing everything before it all went stale. I suppose that's not the most terrible of dilemmas....

This morning, continuing with a green from yunnan. . .

[Victoria]

Well I guess that loving several different types of teas and varieties therein can sometimes be a problem. I really do have a lot of tea! I feel stressed about getting to it all, I sometimes I think it would be better if I just stuck with oolong, my favorite. But this year there were some excellent Darjeeling. I really don't want to be limited. I guess I'd rather have too much variety then too little.

[olivierco]

I don't think so.

Some years ago, I was a little stressed about getting all the good teas. Now I don't feel it anymore. I am just having very good and excellent teas everyday and I am just enjoying them, even if there might be even better teas somewhere.

Houjicha with my lunch.

[Trey Winston]

Nah. Variety is the tea of life, after all.

Dragon Well for me today. It's mucho good.

[tea-guy]

Most commonly I would say "no" to this since I resell my leftovers to friends and family after I do a review for my blog. But in this instance I agree with Drax in that normally one wouldn't be able to finish the teas before they went stale if they had too large a variety.

I have also found that too many choices can be prohibitive to trying something new. Instead when faced with a daunting array of choices people will default to what they know they like.

In my cup this morning: Zimbabwean Black tea from Five Roses.

[Victoria]

In my cup this morning Soom Estate FF Darjeeling. This one is from
Tea Gschwendner and more astringent than the other FF offerings
from Spring '09, but I like it.

Have a nice day everyone!

[JP]

Tea would get boring without the variety. And I'll never get around to trying it all!

[brlarson]

Definitely, yes. I've been there. I would collect and taste, and buy more tea and taste, ... Pretty soon my open teas started going stale and a rough inventory told me that it would take (much) more than a year to drink what I already had. That's why I put my inventory into a spreadsheet, created heuristics for what I can open and when, and started vac-packing all opened and unopened bags.

It's still an ongoing process for me, learning how much of each type of tea I will consume over a year or a season. My pu and oolong and japanese greens now are under control, but my unopened 2008 yellow teas and 2007 Ya Bao are probably beginning to dry up, so I'm still suffering from too much variety.

This morning's breakfast tea was day two of the last of my Bai Hao. Lunch tea is the last of my Ujibashi Sans No Ma.

[olivierco]

Himalaya gold this afternoon.

[Zanaspus]

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

[depravitea]

I went with "Don't think so."
...but I have to change a diaper now, so I'll expand on that later