Newbie question

I am about to re-start learning which teas I like and I would appreciate some suggestions for which ones to try based on what I have tried so far.

I have been following this group for 2-3 years and sampling teas irregularly. I have purchased a couple of samplers online (Upton, Adagio, Bigelow) and a few random teas in 4 oz tins from the local tea shop.

I should have kept records -- not only of the teas but the brewing parameters. I think I prefer the greens. I find the blacks too bitter unless I brew them for fairly short times (less than advised) -- usually 60-90 seconds. I don't think I've tried any oolongs, puerhs, or whites.

I do somewhat like Earl Grey and English and Irish Breakfast but only if brewed for a very short time.

I like the tea they serve in Japanese restaurants and (somewhat less) the tea they serve in Chinese restaurants.

So, based on that, any suggestions for a few varieties to try? I plan to buy 4-5 different types and compare and contrast, as my science professors used to say.

Thanks

PS: Is anyone aware of any software for keeping track of teas and tea making?

For each type of tea, it would need to track brand, vendor, year?, price, etc.

For each brewing, it would need to track amount, temp, time, etc.

If not, maybe I'll write one (some day). Would anyone use it?

Reply to
LurfysMa
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If you like stuff they serve you in Japanese restaurants, then you might want to start with buying some sencha, and maybe for comparison, some biluochun, which is a Chinese green.

I think keeping track of vendor, year, and price will be advisable. Brewing parameters... if you're serious about tea and want to figure out what you like the most, then I suppose you should keep a record, although, I promise you you'll remember how you brewed a tea if you really like it. More important than parameters is the taste, and perhaps take some pictures. Pictures do wonders and will help you remember a tea in ways that no written words ever will. At least that's what I've found after I started blogging.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

One of our Pu-erh gurus developed such a system a couple of years back. I saw the alpha version, and thought it excellent. Don't know if he plans to release it generally. He'll reply here if he wants to.

-DM

Reply to
DogMa

Here's hoping he sees this and has something others can use. I'm a mediocre database programmer ;-)

Reply to
LurfysMa

I believe Dogma was referring to me. I wrote a Pu-erh Collectors database a while back to keep track of my Puerh collection. It is primarily a "collectors" database which concentrates on tracking teas, vendors, and individual pieces of "inventory" much like a stamp or coin collection application. It is not a Tea "Taster's" database by any means.

Due to some personal reasons, a recent death in my family, I really could use a diversion right now. I would be willing to write a database application using MS Access runtime components. I am fairly adept at writing User Interfaces in Access and wouldn't mind creating a Personal Tea Tasters DB. It would only be for the PC platform though, sorry all of you OS-X users out there.

Anyway, bounce it around on the group for a while and collectively come up with a set specifications, or general wish list, of which features are: a)mandatory b)would be really nice c)throw it in if you feel like it.

Then when the thread settles down I will whip up something based on the groups consensus, and throw it out under a Creative Commons license. Call it my contribution to the group..........

Mike

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Reply to
Mike Petro

Mike Petro generously offered to take a crack at writing an Access application to allow tea tasters and testers to keep track of what they buy, what they try, and how they like it. (see below)

Thanks, Mike. I'll take a first crack at some requirements.

Tea Table (no, not one with napkins and spoons). One entry for each tea. It should include: Name of the tea Type (green, oolong, etc.) (link to Type Table) Description, In-stock (y/n), Comments, etc., whatever applies to the tea itself.

Type Table. The types of teas (green, oolong, etc.). Fields: Type (green, oolong, etc...) Description ???

Vendor Table (again, not something at a trade show). One entry for each Vendor. It should include: Name Phone Website Email Phone Fax ??? Comments

Purchase Table. One entry each time a tea is purchased. Fields: Date Tea (link to Tea Table) Vendor (link to Vendor Table) Amount (units and container, probably not numeric) Price Rating (0-10 w/decimals) ??? Comments

Brew Table. One entry each time a tea is brewed (for which data is desired). I'm not sure how many of these individual parameters are worth tracking. Each one is more to enter. Date Time (some teas may be better in the morning) Tea (link to Tea Table) Amount of tea (selectable units) Amount of water (selectable units) Infusion# (1, 2, 3, ...) Type of water (link to Water Table: tap, bottled, ???, ) Temperature (at start) Heating method (pan, kettle, microwave, ???) (link to table?) Vessel (Type of teapot) Time (mm:ss) ???

Ratings: I suggest an 11-point scale (0-10) with labels like: 0 Worthless 1 Terrible 2 Very poor 3 Poor 4 Below average 5 Average 6 Above average 7 Good 8 Very good 9 Excellent 10 Perfect This is not a table that will be linked to, but maybe to display.

I have used these ratings many times. They work very well. I like to allow the user to enter non-integers (7.5) so they can select ratings in between the ones labelled. These are then averaged: Average the purchase ratings to rate the vendors. Average the Brew ratings to rate a tea. Etc.

The main screen would show as many of the top-rated "tests" as will fit on the screen. This will allow us to select a good tea right away.

There would be a button for a new test. It would open up a new record which could be filled in as we go. Links would go to the proper tables.

There would be other buttons to show various stats.

How's that?

Reply to
LurfysMa

Don't you want a reference to the Purchase table rather than the Tea table here? Two lots from the same vendor, let alone different vendors, will often differ dramatically.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Hmmm... Good catch. The application can chase the links back to the Tea Table to get aggregate ratings for the same tea across multiple purchases.

Now come on and add 5-6 fields. It's not nearly complicated enough yet to be a suitable "diversion" for Mike. Let's all pitch in and help him out. ;-)

Reply to
LurfysMa

Me stupid, me no programmer, me no know what you people are talking about this and that table. Me no understand.

Me wonder if pictures can be attached to Access DBs. Pictures are nice. Yum.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

I think I would use a Web 2.0 spreadsheet.

Jim

Reply to
Space Cowboy

What would be even more useful, though much more ambitious, would be some globally accessible registry of types of tea, vendors, etc., so your data would be comparable and mergeable with someone else's.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Pictures data. Database have data. Data good!

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

I concur with the web 2.0 thing - I think something like a Google Spreadsheet will be ideal - whoever administers it can assign the appropriate read/write permissions. That way it ends up being more of a community tool.

Reply to
nroychowdhury

I need to check what this web 2.0 "thing" is. I keep track of my pu'er stash and wine bottles with MS Excel. One of the best web community software out there to keep track of wine collection and tasting notes is Cellar Tracker (http://

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It's got quite extensive features and members can let others view their collection, too, if they let is so.

Maybe something like it should be created...teatracker.com?

Stupit people unide!

Phyll

PS: I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Mike. My condolences.

Reply to
Phyll

It seems to me that it would amount to little more than many of us are already doing, allowing the user community to add and/or modify data. For example I have a Tea Review section on my Pu-erh.Net wesbite that allows anyone to enter their own review.

I could easily do a database using mySQL and put a php front end (webpage) on it, after all that is essentially the engine that runs Pu- erh.Net. This approach requires an ongoing commitment though, it is not the one-off project I had envisioned when I stepped up. It would require a database hosting space, monthly allotment of bandwidth, ongoing maintenance, etc. While I certainly "could" do this, I am somewhat reluctant as I have seen many similar Tea Review database sites fail, and I am not sure that I see where this one would be much different other than maybe being a little more full featured. The database would only be as good as the Community that continued to support it. However, I will not eliminate the idea either.

I still think developing a "personal" stand-alone Tea Journal application would fulfill a purpose. One advantage of stand-alone is that the database would represent "a" particular users personal tastes and metrics. It would also persevere where a Community based project could easily fizzle through lack of support. This type of application could easily be ported over to a mySQL/php environment if the interest were strong enough. What I dont want to do is spend a lot of time and effort creating yet an other flash-in-the-pan online database that becomes stale after 6 months.

As for Google Spreadsheets, cool idea but I honestly think that a spreadsheet is the wrong tool for doing this type of project. It is my opinion that you truly need the power of a relational database to satisfy this particular concept. I do like the idea of online applications though, especially when they are being hosted for free. When "Google Databases" gets created then I think it would be an appropriate tool for this type of endeavor.

I guess the first dilemma is to decide whether to make this a Community based AND supported project, or a stand-alone project.

Just my random thoughts at this moment, the whole concept is still open for comment.

Mike

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Reply to
Mike Petro

Oh, but personal projects don't necessarily persevere. It's just that nobody else notices when they go stale.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

I think it would be good to have a field for secondary name for the same tea. Not that I know it for sure but it seems quite likely that the same tea would go under more than one name.

I also think it would be a good idea for a text field where one could write any type of comment.

It is so much easier to have these fields in there from the start rather than having to add them later on.

Lars Stockholm

Reply to
Lars

A suggestion......

Much as I hate to recommend a Microsoft option and am allergic to Windows, I think that MIcrosoft Works Database, which comes with your PC (check Start button, All programs and look for Works, then pick the database option) could be a simple and free choice for you. You aren't going to have thousands of records to manage so don't really really need a relational query capability -- just "sort" by Key , Key 2 -- and can choose a few simple keys plus data and text fields. You can find a short and nice little tutorial on risman.ca/database, which uses as its example cataloguing a record collection, which is not structurally dissimilar to cataloguing tea samples. One nice feature is you can switch from the spreadsheet-like database layout to the "form" display, which presents your information simply and clearly. I suggest you use multiple keys -- perhaps Tea name 1/Alternate name 2/ Supplier/Date/Infusion #/........ then the items of interest for you

-- plus text fields for you to provide comments and commentary.

Good luck Peter

Reply to
pgwk

Nothing like that on my Windows 2000 machine.

Reply to
LurfysMa

A Relational Database would be powerful compared to MS Works, Excel etc. Would also take some committment from someone keen to embark on such a venture. One also needs to remember the more complex the solution adopted, the more likely the product incurs problems (no disrespect to the programmers on the group) and the harder it is to make changes to it as time goes on..

My PDA/Phone goes with me everywhere and just happens to be Windows based. With the increasing number of smartphones on the market perhaps a more simpler approach using a more portable platform such as Excel might be something to consider. This way you can take your 'database' with you on shopping trips etc.

But hey, irrespective of the outcome, some great ideas and enthusiasm here. Cheers Mal Oz

Reply to
Mal from Oz

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