On Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:58:15 -0700 (PDT), Iggy
> wrote:

>I'm a bit of an anal-retentive type who loves to categorize things
>too, and I've tried to do this sort of tea database from time to
>time. I'm so A-R that it's probably the reason I avoid tea blends
>(with a few exceptions). It's a fun exercise and very satisfying.

I'm glad I'm not the only one ;-)

>I also empathize with the "don't categorize to death what should be a
>near-spiritual experience." If you pay too much attention to putting
>something in a niche, you're also limiting what you'll experience from
>the tea. You'll taste what you are expecting to taste and be less
>open to the unexpected or to subtle nuances.

I try to stay balanced.

I've read through the archives and several people have made good
suggestions.

My plan is to record the brewing parameters for each pot with a rating
plus comments. One program option will be "surprise me". The program
will choose a tea from whatever I have available and, based on past
pots and ratings, suggest a set of brewing parameters.

I have learned from following this group to try very different
parameters from what I might try on my own. It might choose a lot of
leaf and a very short steep time or less leaf and longer steep at a
lower temperature.

The program would keep track of what I like and try to calculate
ranges of parameters that are the sweet spot for each tea.

>The vendor with the
>highest quality tea I've ever tasted in fact refuses to name his teas
>-- he'll just present us with a tasting of a half-dozen greener
>oolongs, never saying if it's a ti kuan yin varietal or something
>different. He wants the taste to speak for itself. I understand this
>was a common approach to tea sales in China before Western customers
>demanded fancy names and concrete classifications.

I would not buy from this vendor. I find this arrogant. I have no
problem with him offering this as an option, but when he gets to
refusing information, he has forgotten who the customer is. ;-)

>If you want to go ahead with the tea classifications, consider doing
>type (green, white, red (black), yellow, aged [pu-erh, liu-an, etc],
>tisanes, and "other" or "flavored") and also doing shape (bags,
>fannings, CTC, twisted, rolled, display, cake). You could use the
>official classifications that are most useful for non-Chinese teas
>(STGFOP and such) if you want. And you should DEFINITELY keep entries
>for different vendor's varieties of the same tea, or even different
>grades of the same tea from the same vendor -- you'll find huge
>variation!
>
>Have fun!
>-Charles

Thanks