Jason select said

Steepster Select #010 Giveaway

UPDATE: And the randomly selected winner is … Mercuryhime! (http://steepster.com/Mercuryhime)

Mercuryhime is the proud winner of this month’s Steepster Select box. If you didn’t win, no worries. We have a contest each month, so check back for details in the discussions.

We’re back for the monthly Steepster Select giveaway. Answer the question(s) below and you could win the May box. The winner will be chosen randomly after the contest closes on Wednesday 5/23.

Question:
How many cups do you need to drink before you figure out if you like a tea?

Good luck!

61 Replies
unfeasible said

It tends to vary, but I usually give it a pot or two (1-2 liters) before I decide. Some teas I can take a sip of and decide whether or not I like them, though that’s not the norm. Other teas take some time and more comparison with other teas of the same or similar type.

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Usually it takes me 2 or 3 cups before I know for sure. But sometimes if I don’t really like the smell, I can’t even get through the first cup.

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About 3 cups. Sometimes I can tell from the first cup but I try to give a tea three steepings (three 5-16oz cups) to make up for the variations of temp and time.

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Frolic select said

Anywhere from 1-4 cups. Many times it will be obvious but it occasionally takes some tweaking of steeping parameters to get a cup to taste it’s best.

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Usually 3 cups to tell if I really like it. Less that that to know I don’t like it.

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kOmpir said

At least two, at most four or five… it really depends. The same tea can vary in nuances with different water and I get sometimes disappointed because of that.
I’ll always try different steeping times and temperatures, and even methods like the cold brew if I get the feeling that I might get something nice in my cup.

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Kittenna said

For me, it’s often just a single cup to decide whether it’s a like/dislike, unless I have obviously screwed up the parameters (and it’s bitter, etc.) Usually I’ll give a tea more than just a single cup to confirm this, but I’m not sure I’ve ever really changed my mind unless, as I said, the first cup involved user error.

However, in terms of determining my favourite teas, that definitely takes a few more cups (probably 3-4), because one of the things that makes a tea a favourite is when it tastes consistently good.

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If the first cup was a positive experience, that’s really all I need unless subsequent cups are less than positive then I will need to rethink my first impression. If the first cup was less than positive, I usually do a little experimentation with the parameters to find out if something can be done to make the tea more enjoyable. This can take two or three attempts, sometimes more. I used to simply give up on a tea but, have since realized that it was premature to do that … I mean, I even like pu-erh and lapsang souchong now … and I had resigned myself to not liking them at all once upon a time.

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It varies but usually at least 2 sometimes less if it’s that amazing :)

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Andie select said

It only really takes one cup for me to decide if I don’t like it. Even if I don’t like it, I will usually drink a few more cups just to make 100% sure and so it doesn’t go to waste. It’s not very often that I don’t like a tea, though. I try to get sample sizes as much as possible.
If I like it, it only takes me one cup to realize it. I know what I like.

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