JasonCEC

For anyone looking into this, the field is (usually) called "organic geo-chemistry" and/or "paleo-isotope ecology"; the two fields are interwoven to get results like these, or the diet of early mammals. It's generally a collaboration between anthropologist and paleontologist.

Apologies - I wrote that quickly in jest, and in any-case, it seems were on the same side of the descriptivist argument.

The literal literary contestation between descriptive and prescriptive dictionaries is alive and well[0], though the war has been lost, and your fellow prescriptivist have yet to surrender.

[0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/08/the-d...

I write books about Chinese tea and host a companion podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@teatechnique

It's a touch niche.

Shockingly strong! I've always wanted to see the glass blowing process at their factory in Tokyo, but they've been closed for tours while upgrading for at least ~2 years before covid (when I was frequently in Japan).

My understanding is that they use some type of cold annealing process that strengthens the thin glass.

I've not managed to break one in 4 years of dinner party use.

Edo-kiriko is one of 2 great glass traditions from Japan; the glass is thick, feels similar to Murano glass, with the edges of the cut pattern "sharp".[0]

There is also a tradition of thin glass (without etching), where the glass is blown to be paper thin and you can feel it flex as you hold it. This is called Usuhari - "Usu" means thin and "Hari" means glass[1]. Shotoku is the best maker, creating a variety of specialty drinking glasses of many shapes.

I have a small collection of Japanese drinking glasses at home which I use regularly and freely use with friends[2] - everyone loves drinking beer or sake from the Usuhari glasses. Shotoku actually did a collaboration with one of the Edo-kiriko makers, by blowing a small sake cup with a thick Usuhari glass ~ it's amazing, and I use it as my personal spirits cup.

[0] Not sharp enough to hurt, yet very noticeably present.

[1] usuhari glasses are exceptionally thin at 0.9mm. Paper is ~0.1mm, so I'm slightly exaggerating.

[2] less expensive than the Edo-kiriko.

Shades of Snowcrash in the title, needed to read the comments to make sure it was safe before clicking.

I write online books about tea / Chinese Tea Ceremony; we also have a companion podcast!

https://www.teatechnique.org/

[feedback and debate is always appreciated!]

Gastrograph AI | gastrograph.com | Director of Data Science | Remote / NYC

*Director of Data Science* We are looking for an experienced Data Science Director to lead the team responsible for all data applications, including model building, model testing, benchmarking, data visualization, and model performance. Gastrograph AI empowers the data science team to own all phases of the model development process.

While Gastrograph AI has 10+ years of sensory data, the database fits in memory and does not require "big data" techniques. Instead of large amounts of low dimensional data, we have a small amount of very high value high dimensional data. Working with such a data set gives the team a strong preference for mathematically elegant and thoughtful models - we care more about a deep understanding of the underlying statistics than the possibilities of deep neural networks.

For more information, go to: www.gastrograph.com/director-data-science Or email jason@gastrograph.com

I do not currently (yet?) talk to my plants; we use them as names to refer to the plant and to prescribe them personalities.

Apropos of nothing, I name all of my plants at home... my personal plants are all named after Hellenistic historical figures (Democritus, Herodotus, etc),

but when my girlfriend decided to grow an avocado tree, I named him Maximilian I....

Sensory testing (which is what is what I and my company specialize in) is a large component of tea sourcing and absolutely part of the process.

To illustrate this:

Just as coffee has "cupping", a method of preparation used for sourcing and evaluation but which no consumer would ever use to prepare coffee for enjoyment....

Commodity tea has this ISO standard (also called cupping).

The reason that this method, over a method that results in a better tasting cup is used, is because commodity tea is selected via flaw minimization and consistency testing.

That is only partially correct;

Yes, the general idea is to adjust your boil and pour method for the type of tea you're brewing, but that is true for all tea. Water will lose the same heat under the same conditions whether you're brewing oolong or green tea.

To summarize the points addressed here:

- High-end Chinese green tea can be brewed with "boiling water" just as oolong or black tea can; the adjustments are within the range used for other classes of tea.

- Merchants recommending cooler water for green tea do so to reduce the astringency and/or grassy flavor found in lower quality tea.

- Nepal does not have a historical tea tradition and the cultivation of Nepalese green tea is a modern development. Nepal inherited its tea habits from India whom had it imposed on them by the British who stole the seeds from China. While Nepal produces good tea on par with Darjeeling, it does not compare to the highest end Chinese green teas, which are an order of magnitude more expensive, if not more.

You are correct;

My point was that outside of the most commodity level tea sourcing, no one uses these "standards".

They are not! Sencha should be brewed with off-boiling water, anywhere from 85 - 95°c (which is still a higher temperature than low end sencha).

What accounts for this difference?

High-end sencha is steam processed at a lower temperature. Steam only gets to ~100°c depending on altitude and that is the highest temperature it is exposed to throughout its production.

High-end Chinese green tea is partially processed in a wok to denature the oxidizing enzymes. The saying for Chinese tea is that "tea remembers the heat of the wok", which is the pan frying process at upwards of ~200°c.

So all wok processed green tea can be brewed with hotter water than steam processed green tea.

Tl;dr: yes, use boiling water on very high end Chinese green tea for best results.

Longer Explanation:

In the Chinese tea tradition, water temperature is referred to by the size of bubbles during boiling (crab eyes = small bubbles (cooler) vs fish eyes = large bubbles (hotter)).

In theory, all water at boil is 100°c, but in practice, there is often a temperature gradient within a kettle and only the gas (the bubbles) is at exactly 100°c (assuming you're at sea level), which is why even some culinary recipes will call for a "rolling boil".

In any case, the strength of the stream when pouring will have a greater effect on the resulting flavor profile of very good green tea than the variation in bubble size, as bubble size is a variance of ~2°c while water can lose up to 5°c in a high slow pour.

Thus, boiling water at crab eyes with a thin slow (but not high) pour is the method used for high end Chinese green tea amongst high level Chinese tea practitioners.

I work with tea both professionally[0] and semi-professionally[1] and will clarify that:

- this is for commercial tea, not specialty or "ceremony" grade tea

- all of the big commodity houses, blending houses, brand buyers, etc have their own modifications on the standard, and this ISO tea prep standard is most definitely not the "standard"

- From elsewhere in the thread: all great tea can be brewed with boiling water. The idea that green tea (or any other type of whole leaf tea) should be brewed with something under ~100C is a technique used by merchants to sell you bad tea.

[0] www.gastrograph.com

[1] teatechnique.org/

This article is about the rise of middleman agency platforms to connect brands to internet celeberties with a following.

I found the articles thesis more general, that many more individuals want to become paid influencers, and the lower acceptance rate of middleman agencies as proof that the supply of want-to-be influencers has increased.

You want to help brands reach consumers.

I am the CEO of AFS, but my company works on flavor profile development of new and existing products - deep R&D of flavor, aroma, and texture optimization. This is far upstream of marketing and branding which we are uninvolved with.

I for one don't want to be an influencer.

Social media is damaging to society, doing things for likes is damaging for the ego, and curating your world for Instagram or TikTok likes is choosing to live in a simulacra.

No Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WeChat, WeiBo, or TikTok for me ~ just Hacker News. Upvote me here so I know you agree and we can influence others not to be influencers.

Analytical Flavor Systems | Data Science | NYC / Remote | full time / part time / internships

*Also hiring for Data Engineering and Full Stack Engineering*

Company Overview Analytical Flavor Systems uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to model human sensory perception of flavor, aroma, and texture, to predict consumer preferences. We help companies develop new products, optimize existing brands, and enter new markets with the best tasting foods and drinks for each target demographic around the world.

Job Overview Analytical Flavor Systems' (AFS) capabilities are evolving as we automate our prediction and reporting workflow on a new data platform. The data science team is responsible for all data applications including model building, model testing, benchmarking, data visualization, and model performance. Analytical Flavor Systems empowers the data science team to own all phases of the model development process.

On a day-to-day basis, you will work in one or more of these areas:

    -Develop new models for new predictive capabilities
    -Test, train, update, or re-architect existing models with new data and research
    -Develop new interactive data visualizations for the customer reporting platform
    -Push the boundaries on sensory data applications by expanding our technological reach into new areas
    -Working with the data engineering and application engineering team to understand client requirements and translate requirements to model capabilities.
    -Build reusable code and develop technical documents to represent new features.

    -Postgres for database
    -AWS for cloud resources
    -R for model building

*Also hiring for Data Engineering and Full Stack Engineering*

You may remember this thread from a few months back where we all traded stories of dangerous directions on Google Maps[0].

Despite having the terrifying experience of driving my motorcycle into the jungles of Indonesia, I managed to *make the same mistake again* much closer to home, driving from Utah to Colorado.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25576799

This is nowhere close to the worlds most famous teapot; it's not even in the top 10 of the most expensive ever sold and its price estimate of "six figures" wouldn't put it in the top 50 sold or the top 100 of known private collections.

For example, any Gu Jingzhou Yixing teapot is _easily_ worth ~$1MM USD, and certain pots have sold for $2M.

It is, and I think I do!

We're doing well despite the pandemic; its been interesting to see how adoption of machine learning in consumer research has been accelerated during COVID because its no longer possible to gather lots of people together for tastings.

This happened to me in the jungles of Indonesia.. [0] I literally followed google maps and rode my motorcycle into the jungle.

It started off a reasonable road and quickly became dangerous and then deadly. I rolled down the mountain side with the motorcycle and got very, very lucky that I was only mildly hurt (on top of the brutal sunburn I got on the ride). I ran into the local village (more like hobbled) and the first two people didn't believe that anyone could be stupid enough to do that (pantomiming because no one spoke English). I needed to find a teenage boy before anyone thought it plausible.

Happy to live to tell the tale, and I certainly won't be following maps blindly anymore.

[0] http://www.cultofquality.com/index.php/2018/02/on-glory-and-...

That is not correct;

I believe the "god-like dynasty founder" you're referring to is Shennong, the mythical 2nd emperor of Chine who is said to have invented tea, medicine and government[0]. If so, there is (obviously) no historical evidence of his existence.

On the other hand, the history of tea is well understood. Tea originated in Yunnan province and was used by the local minority groups along the Lancang river (the headwaters of the Mekong) as a masicient, chewed like coca leaf in the Andes and Holly in North America, for its stimulating properties. Before the Tang Dynasty, tea was a medicinal herb, part of the broader group of herbs used as a medicine by the wondering mendicants of Southern China, who spread its use throughout the southern provenances.

Tea became a regional drink pre-Tang, but didn't begin to spread throughout China until the introduction of Buddhism and its adoption into the Buddhist practice as part of the Chinese temperance movement (used in place of alcohol).

Most of the myths around tea originated with Lu Yu[1] a real historical figure who wrote "Cha Jing" or Tea Bible during the Tang - working outside the widely accepted historical texts, he attributed any nebulous mention of medicinal herb (then called "Tu" in classical Chinese) to the tea plant and built up a corpus of mythologies and stories around the new plant (as a type of promotion), including the addition of tea to the older existing myth of Shennong.

Anyway - that is all to say: the history of tea is also the story of the spread of Chan Buddhism and its (inconsistent) anti-alcohol temperance moment from a niche herb in Southern China to one of the largest agricultural commodities today.

I'd recommend "Tea In China: A Religous And Cultural History by James A. Benn"[2]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shennong

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Yu

[2] https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/tea-in-china-a-religious-an...

And damn good onions to boot. I'm a very happy customer.

Yes, I agree, the title is clear;

I point this out because in every conversation about new receptor sites for taste, I see questions about what new flavors or experiences the "discovery" could create - which is (probably) not the _direction_ that implications from this discovery will flow.

For example, MSG was first "discovered" (more correctly, synthesized) in 1908 but the receptor sites (such as mGlu4) were not identified until much later. Glutamic acid was already being added to tons of foodstuff (kombu, mushrooms, stock, gravy, etc) even if the compound and reasoning was unknown. Isolating the compound "making stuff taste good" came before determining the receptor site.

I work in this field[0] and in situations like this always point out that "discover" in this sense is like Amerigo Vespucci "discovering America".

There were people here before it was "discovered" and there were people using this taste receptor before we knew of its existence.

This is an important distinction because what we've learned is not about new flavors or aromas - but the psychophysical pathway that activates perception of that flavor.

This doesn't allow for us humans to perceive anything new but it could allow for the synthesis of new flavors or better modulation of natural or synthesized flavors.

I work on the modeling and prediction side of human sensory perception, but do have prior knowledge of psychophysics and am happy to answer further questions.

[0] www.gastrograph.com

Counter Culture is the best in the business right now; they are wholesale only (they don't own cafes), but their coffee is used by high-end cafes across the USA and available online.

Just as a PSA - I develop food and beverage products (both premium and mass market) with Analytical Flavor Systems (a predictive platform for flavor);

no one in the industry - not a single person who knows anything about coffee - would recommend civet coffee. Its a marketing gimmick of the worst kind. Its destructive, a-historical, and does not result in a better product.

Any random "3rd wave" coffee is better, and if you want a fruity-fermented profile, just look for a "natural process" or "honey processed" coffee.