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Notes on Notes Series Excerpts | A Kaplowitz Media Retrospective
SUBTITLE: how to taste tastes & read/write tasting notes.
The below is a shitpost, of sorts. Also, it is canned & previously posted material from my "Notes on Notes" series (w/ links to read the full posts they were plucked from). For the sake of this post, some may be mildly edited to read even more clumsily. However, these edits will [maybe] not be made at the original posts, for I am predominantly lazy.
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COMPLEXITY(?): Nuance, firstly, is under the umbrella of complexity. Nuance is a way for a thing to be complex. As is the way a pair of nuances can see their underneaths intermingle. Transition? Sure, that's complexity. having more than a tandem or-so of primary flavors? Now you're talking complexity. A bunch of varied undertones? Yup. Essentially, complexity is on a scale of anything more than nothing to a fucking cacophony, and all/any point/s 'tween. The 'tweens are preferred over the opposing ends of the spectrum. The fun is in the middle -- quite unlike American politics.
Read the full post Notes on Notes "Nuance v. Complexity" HERE.
Fusty, musty, dusty happen predominately in the nose. Actually, in the order, top-to-bottom. It's the aroma, but also it's there through the schnoz via retro-hale. Olfactory. In the latter, mainly post-pepperiness in cigars. In beverages (former), when you stick your nose in the cup/glass. Off the fresh pour or a steamy cuppa, in the background or underneath -- dependant upon your linguistic orientation.
Read the full post Notes on Notes "Fusty, Musty, Dusty" HERE.
In terms of flavor vs. body, white pepper is more the former than the latter by a tick of distance. Its flavor already being noted, let's do body... a clean tingle oft accompanied by tangy citrus, & short-lived when appearing on the finish. Finish itself being more body than flavor in my estimation. For the record before moving on: Flavor is what we taste, body is how what we taste feels in our mouths. Also, no mention of body should be made sans mention of flavor. Savvy? We'll go on. You're doing great!
Read the full post Notes on Notes "Pepper: Flavor or Body?" pt. 1 HERE.
That said, in and of itself, this "broad across the tongue" phenomenon is not a bad thing. However, it can be bad, outside of those times when simple blankie cozy comfort sedation isn't the primary goal. This, essentially, makes for offerings of the comfort food genre. mashed potatoes, grits, peanut butter, bubur ayam. Sick people's food. British cuisine sans their odd imperialistic curry fascination.
Read the full post Notes on Notes "Broad Across the Tongue" HERE.
Honey. This is about honey. Language. It's really more about language -- about the fine-tuning thereof in order to really make those bullshit metaphors truly pop. The story of honey goes back thousands of years. The story of cigars, hundreds. The story of the story -- language -- time immemorial. Let's cap it, for our purposes, at say the first time we read tasting notes. Coffee, wine go back maybe thousands as well, for what that's worth. This is an all-encompassing thing, this thing I am writing on "honey" now suitably surrounded in quotations.
Read the full post Notes on Notes "On Honey Notes" HERE.
In part one, I covered "dried crushed ground peppers." Herein, we'll delve into what I call the produce section peppers. You know... peppers not "dried crushed ground." Think bell, banana, jalapeno, habanero. Because that's fairly the list & gist of what you'll find in the context of our (cigar, coffee, beer) confines. Now read a bit about each, noting first that a put them in spicy order. yw & thx
Read the full post Notes on Notes "Pepper: Flavor or Body?" pt. 2 HERE.
Then came umami via Japan. Think savory. Think MSG. Don't think Madison Square Garden. Thus compiling today's list of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami/savory. "Fat" is, I understand, making some strides toward inclusion. Simply because real tastes come in all sizes. In this "Notes on Notes," we'll be focusing on an even newer & only potential addition: water.
But much like an NFL wide receiver, water has no taste; you might say if you were quite clever. Except that we/they aren't necessarily talking taste. I've heard it labeled as "water taste," most notably by Dr. Linda M. Bartoshuk, the Bushnell Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition and the UFCST Director for Psychophysical Research. I don't really grok that caveat, myself.
Read the full post Notes on Notes "The Taste of Water" HERE.
Balance. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who first tweeted, "Bitches love #balance." & ol' Honest Abe was never truer. But what is this "balance?" This is a very important question, as balance is cited in cigar reviews almost as often & darn near as vaguely as is "complexity." The thing is, as with complexity, balance can mean several things -- can be achieved several ways -- and found to be lacking in just as many. Also, it is a prerequisite of positive complexity, as, without balance, complexity is a jarringly helter-skelter cacophony.
Read the full post Notes on Notes "On Balance" HERE.
"Note on Notes" was originally brought to you by Dapper Cigars, so go check them out www.dappercigars.com thx.
kaplowitzmedia@mail.com
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