Curiosity got the best of me and I added a pinch of salt to my green
tea this morning. It didn't exactly improve the taste for me. It
seemed to take some of the sweetness out of the tea and may have
dampened the bitterness a little, but it also caused it to linger on
my tongue in an unfavorable way. It took away the refreshing quality
of the tea and make it heavier and more substantial tasting--like a
broth perhaps.

Interestingly, I went to the Freer Gallery in DC today and they have
an exhibit (one small room, actually) on japanese tea ceramics that
were for the common people (i.e., not tea ceremony wares). One of the
descriptions of a pot stated that it was the type in which coarse
everyday tea would be made, perhaps mixed with pickles, rice or beans.
I found that interesting, and thought of the breakfasts that I've
eaten in China, which have been much more likely to include small
pickled things than the panoply of sweets one would find in a typical
american breakfast. Maybe that isn't relevant to this discussion, but
it did make me consider that salted tea, like everything else, is
surely a taste acquired--be it through culture or some other means.

cha bing