Tuesday TeaDay 6/15/10 DifficulTea?

[Chip]

Yesterday we discussed fave teaware colors. You can still vote in yesterday's poll and discuss this topic.

Welcome TeaFriends to TeaDay...shall we brew and share what is in our cups today ... throughout the day? You can reflect back on your TeaDay if you need to.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic was suggested by Auggy. She wondered how persistant you were with a new tea that initially you did not like. Do you give it a couple tries and then abandon the effort...or keep trying til it is gone? What happens to the tea in question if and when you finally give up on it.

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone today. So, bottoms up, refill, repeat often...

[Marco]

Good morning every one,

have choosen 2-4. I never give up in the first time
But as with all things in life - it depends.
Sometimes 2 is far enough or I really disliked it the first time.
Most of the time I think I didn't get it yet. Perhaps I brewed it the wrong way or was in the wrong mood.
But if the taste for me is bad repeatedly - hey what do the gods of tea wanna tell me with that?
Other gardens do have tea too - and perhaps I harmonize better with them.

In my cup today - oh don't hit me on that - just a very cheap green flavoured with lemon. Nothing better at work for the moment.

What I wonder - do you brew at work? I must say there is not the peace, not my teaware and not the time for an enjoyable teabreak.
But this question perhaps is for another poll

nice day to you all
Marco

[Trey Winston]

Depends on how much I've bought. I feel it would be wasteful to throw away a tea I haven't finished. So everything from one try (if I've been smart enough to just buy a sample) to many (if I've bought a lot on impulse). The truly bad ones (not that many so far) collect dust in the back of the cabinet until I can be sure they've gone stale and I can justifiably throw them away.

Enjoying some SN on this lovely June day. I love early summer.

[JBaymore]

Two to Four.

There are too many good teas to drink and too little time in your life to be spending a lot of time figuring out how to make a certain tea even basically enjoyable.

The odds are good that if you consistently don't like it after a few brewing attempts ......at the best you might find that tea just "OK" when you finally get it right. Why drink "OK" when you could more easily drink "great"?

I'm a fan of management guru Tom Peter's "Fast Failure" concept .

best,

............john

[artmom]

Two to four attempts -- at least so far. I've really been sampling a lot of tea since December. Before that, new tea was a once or twice a year experiment. Now, it is two or three times a week.

The greens have been the most difficult for me to try more than once.

After gd returns from Japan, and tries my greens , I'll offer, for free on TeaSwap, whatever she doesn't want to keep.

[Skippyandjif]

I'll usually try a tea up to six or seven times before giving up. I usually figure that the first few times, it's something I'm doing if I don't like a tea because I'm playing around with brewing parameters. However, if I just can't get into a certain kind of tea, one of my tea-drinking friends at school is usually more than happy to take it off my hands.

Lapsang souchong in my cup this morning.

[msmeghann82]

If it is really awful, smells bad, tastes bad, I may chuck it out after one drink. If I think it might be saved by a temperature or steeping time, I may try another steep or two.

Samplings from the Signature box pass to come later this morning.

[geeber1]

I will give it at least a couple of tries, then put it away for a few weeks, and then try again. If I still don't like it, I try it as iced tea. Sometimes certain teas are just better iced. If it's still bad as an iced tea, away it goes!

[Victoria]

If it is a good quality tea, I will give it two tries. Perhaps more if others have had good results. If it is something I probably won't like anyway, such as darker roasts or certain flavored teas, etc. - one try and they are gone. Life is too short.

In my cup this morning - 2010 Castleton Moonlight

Have a nice day everyone!

[debunix]

Depends on what the attraction to the tea is: I gave fewer chances to black teas that I was hesitant to try in the first place, and more tries to teas that are the same or similar to some I've tried before and liked. I probably gave Dragon Well more tries than any other tea in the past couple of years (at least 10-12 before I found a way to really enjoy it).

This morning, Tenryu Misakubo shincha again, without any help of the cat. It only took a 2nd brewing to get it right.

[Ms Kita B]

I voted to the bitter end. I know there are so many variables that effect the taste. I will preserve until the perfect cup is made or until my supply runs out. I have tried a tea I didn't really like, let it sit on the shelf for a few months and it actually tasted a lot better. Maybe some teas need to rest awhile who knows. I have to continue to tell myself not all tea is for me. I'm still on a quest to find a good matcha.

[Seeker]

Roughly 2 - 4, tho for some weird reason I tend to hang on to the bag of unused tea far longer.

Matcha seiun followed by a mix of chi ran and ym - a cavalcade of ym's!

[JBaymore]

I'm still on a quest to find a good matcha.

Usually very simple solution....... just apply liberal amounts of money to the purchase.

best,

...........john

[Chip]

Yeah, depends on the tea and its rep. If I feel I am messing up, I might keep trying to the bitter end. It has already happened where the very last of the bag, I finally figured the tea out.

However if I sense the tea just is not worthy of the effort because possibly little effort went into its production, I will go 2-4 tries, then set it aside for the rest of my life ... just have a hard time disposing of even bad tea, pretty pathetic.

Began the TD with Yutaka Midori from the O-C. No worries here, figured it out right away. SweeTea had her share ... LilBit and Shincha paid a visit to the TeaTable.

[entropyembrace]

Usually 2-4, if it´s something good but hard to brew I´ll usually figure it out enough for the tea to be pleasant to drink if not perfect in that timeframe. If it´s just plain awful then it will collect dust because it´s very difficult for me to throw stuff away and I dont want to give people awful tea