#sanpincha

[whatishotiswhatyousee]

Legit Jasmine tea from 沖縄県! Thank you, @attack_a_kat @ino.coffee_!! ^^, #sanpincha #tea #cha #iloilocity https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbex9Dgpyjn/?utm_medium=tumblr

[meowzone]

I went a little crazy at the convenience stores, trying lots of drinks, like an alcoholic goya drink, another alcoholic drink that was acerola mixed with shikwasa, salty lychee, sanpin tea, etc.

[yunomilife]

Tea photo styling. Up close or a bit further away? (#Sanpincha, a jasmine scented #tea from Okinawan factory Nakazen)

[tenthousandcupsoftea-blog]

Why 10,000 cups?

It's 10,000 of something, but it's not the fabled 10,000 hours. If I make an average of 10 a day, that's just short of three years until I'm done.  But in terms of actual time, each cup only takes 2-3 minutes from thinking about tea to drinking it.  At most, that's only 500 hours.  So to get to the magic Gladwell  number, I would need to make 20 times that.  200,000 cups.  

But as tricky as a gaiwan is, let's be honest: it's not *that* hard.  And an yixing pot is even easier.  The thing I really need to learn is tasting, and that might take 200,000...but it also requires a lot of varieties of tea.  But in that case, I shouldn't just be counting cups.

In the end, the 10,000 hours thing also only matters in part.  Building a skill is about more than just time on target -- think of how many people who have been doing one thing their whole lives who still suck at it.  It's also about other things.  The Talent Code -- based on more research than Gladwell's -- lists them out.  But what it boils down to for me is two things: the physical skill of using the gaiwan, which is just repetition, and the feedback of the taste, which is more complex.  I need focus to determine why that cup I just made was good or not: did I make a mistake in steeping (and what exactly was it)? Was it the leaves? And once I'm better: how could I get a more refined flavor out? Should I use a vessel with a different glaze for this one?  A shorter or longer steeping time / hotter water?  

So, it's about repetition and focus.  It also takes a lot of reading.  The reading is there to learn about all this stuff, but I would ditch all that if I had a good coach.  But that's not possible here in Okinawa, where they still think sanpincha is the height in tea. 

Ugh. Sanpincha.  The rotgut from China meets poor storage.  It's only drinkable cold and even then it makes you wonder why you bother.