Fine Tuning The Speed Test

One of my favorite blog posts is this article by Marshal’N’ of A Tea Addicts Journal where he introduces The Speed Test as “a more honest and straightforward method of determining whether you like a tea or not.”  Its method is simple- the teas you drink through the fastest are likely the teas that you enjoy the most.

I find there is a lot of truth to this measure.  I really like it to the point I’m considering publishing how much of certain cakes I drink through in a year as a measure of their value.  Actually, I have even came up with my own straightforward/ practical metric that follows from and increases the reliability of The Speed Test, The Re-Order Test (see comment here).  The Re-Order Test is also practical way of assessing the subjective value of a tea. 

Anyhow, there are a few consideration about The Speed Test that you might want to take into consideration for it to be a more valuable measure…

First, the tea that you are speed testing has to be readily available for daily consumption.  It can’t be locked away in some complex storage vault.  It has to be easy to get at.

Second, it has to be something that can be easily re-ordered.  If you can’t ever re-order it again and you really like it and want to age it, you might be more reluctant to drink through it as quickly.  As Marshal’N puts it in that article, “I have to control myself from drinking, lest I run out of it.”

Thirdly, and most importantly, you have to consider the stamina and potency of the tea you are drinking. 

What do I mean by stamina? - How many enjoyable nfusions can you get out of the dry leaf? 

What do I mean by potency? - How many grams of dry leaf do you need to get the maximum amount of enjoyable infusions? 

The above considerations will drastically impact how quickly you drink through your tea.  It might even skew the results of the Speed Test.  I know it influences how fast I drink though my puerh.

Peace