Cameron Lewis wrote:
>
> What I meant was a catalogue of memories of tastes and aromas. I used
> the word "tasting vocabulary" as a short form. The more memories of
> distinct tastes you have, the better you can discriminate between
> different teas, and the more significant each experience of tea
> becomes. It is like learning a new language.
>
> At first there is only a torrent of sound, which can barely be
> distinguished from gibberish. Next comes a stage where one knows the
> basic words and where a given sentence has meaning and can be
> distinguished from another sentence. Then competence where coherent
> speech is possible. Eventually fluency where each subtle shade of
> difference and meaning is clear. The neophyte can hardly tell black
> tea from green. The novice can discern the difference between the
> categories (black, green, white, oolong, etc). The journeyman, can
> identify regions and styles. The master knows the estate, the season,
> the variance in processing techniques and whatnot.

And then the next, which dispenses with the conceptual and discursive
altogether to come directly in touch with tea itself. A mind cluttered
with all kinds of associated analytical thoughts is wise, but only in a
superficial way.

--crymad