Lewis Perin writes:

cha bing writes:

Found an interesting article on tasting that I thought the group might
find interesting. The article is on wine, but of course there are
parallels:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...tliving&sub=AR

Having thought about this article intermittently for a few hours, one
thing that stands out is "salt suppresses bitterness".

This might explain why, when Tibetans boil, e.g., low-grade raw Pu'er
for hours, they add not only milk but salt.

It might also explain something that's puzzled me for years. As far
as I know, if you go far enough back in Chinese tea history, you find
people decocting (not steeping) *salted* green tea. I would love to
know what someone who's read the tea classics thinks about this.
Danny? MarshalN?

Sorry to follow up my own post, but I'm actually forwarding a response
from Danny, who is having technical difficulties with Usenet. After
explaining his Usenet problem, he says:

Back to the article. Interesting! Recently some friends proposed
that our experience in tastebuds between tea an wine may not be that
different, so there could be something we can use from wine tasting
notes to relate to tea.

I was flipping through a book recently in a bookstore in Taipei on a
report of high fluorine poisoning (fluorosis) among the tibetans
caused by long term consumption of tea. The tea most tibetans used
is not pu'er (not the baoyan tea from XG~), but the low grade Nan-
Xi- Lubiancha, which they boil thoroughly with some salt and yak's
milk. I don't think they used salt to suppress the bitterness in the
tea, but to flavour the water and the gamey yak's milk. Someone
once mentioned also that salt may be used also to kill bacteria, not
sure how effective is that.

Adding salt to flavour tea was a practice popular during Luyu's
time, tea lovers from later periods till present think it is a waste
of taste and spoils the tea. In the 5th chapter of Chajing, if I
remember correctly, Luyu mentions that one can add a little salt
into the centre of the boiling water to flavour it to one's
preference, but cautions against putting too much salt, or one would
be drinking salt water, not tea.

Salt suppresses bitterness...isn't sugar a more pleasant
alternative? I remember my grandparents used to make me chew a
bitter leaf for my asthma, they would roll two leaves with a large
pinch of salt and gave it to me. The bitterness was hellish, so I
guess I'm a trained tolerant drinker...but I like riesling and
dessert wines! So I'm hypersensitive drinker as well...or I'm just
confused...

Bitter is a 'priced' flavour in Chinese tastebuds, usually
associated with 'cooling' properties and is said to benefit the
functions of the heart, spleen and liver. Tea during Luyu's time
and in the Japanese tea tradition, is priced for its bitterness and
gan properties; Luyu mentions that tea...whose nature is cold (han)
is best for those upright in spirit...he also says that tea's
character is to be bitter first, then sweet (gan). Judging from the
preparation methods laid down by Luyu however, I guess he was going
more for the bitter note in tea than the sweet aftertaste. The
demand for hui gan comes from a much later generation of tea lovers,
probably from the Ming period onwards.

Lew again: Regarding what Danny says about a "tolerant" taster
enjoying less-aggressive tastes like Riesling, I think the article
says this is quite normal; it just takes practice and experience. And
this undoubtedly applies to tea if it's valid in the first place.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html