What Tea Tasters Can Teach Us About Our Political Viewpoint

Some of us are vitally interested in politics. I’m one. I vaguely remember, from my childhood, reading in a Robert Heinlein book that the alternative to politics is war, so it seems like a good thing to take an interest in.

I just did a US political compass test and it told me I was slightly to the left socially and a little conservative economically. I then did an Australian one that told me I was a centrist socially and slightly right-wing economically.

It’s a good thing to be so central, I think, as it gives me much more scope to offend both sides, which obviously is twice the fun. (When it comes to tea, though, I’m obviously hard core.)

So, to skip to the second part of my subject today, what does an expert tea tasting look like? Here’s an up to date report from the Boston Herald, November 1886:

A big round table of considerable solidity, which whirls easily on a pivoted center. Temptingly set about the edge of this revolving table one observes an array of teacups more or less aesthetic in mold and adornment, according to the “style” of the establishment…A generous teakettle is stuck somewhere in a convenient corner, and it keeps up a pleasant purring over the patient gas jet

Yes, a stack of teacups and endless tea. Sounds lovely.
But it’s not just tasting unlimited cups with a few cucumber sandwiches on the side. Technique is involved, and here’s an important idea in tea tasting: the over-brewed tea.

When expert tasters drink tea, an overbrewed version quite often highlights subtle imperfections. So a tea that tastes fine in normal conditions – or maybe not great but for indistinct reasons- can have its flaws exposed in this method. And even a tea you like that tastes great can have small flaws highlighted this way.

So, how can you do this with politics? Well, people half do this all the time!

By tuning into media sources that agree with our own political viewpoints, we can amplify the good things about our own beliefs, and hear about what those terrible folk at the other end of the spectrum do/say/believe. It’s a pretty well established thing to do.

The other option is to tune into the lunatic fringe of the other side. The guys who have no rhyme or reason, who will just publish/broadcast  anything. Clearly false information, conspiracy theories, outdated stories. It makes us feel good to laugh at those cretins.

But to take a leaf from the tea taster’s book, what if we start to watch/read media sources that broadly agree with each of us, but are more extreme? More exaggerated. More nonsensical, if Social Media is a way to judge “old school” media (and it is). There’s plenty of it.

Overbrewed media can teach us the subtle flaws in our own arguments, can challenge our assumption that it’s us versus them. And it doesn’t have to be overbrewed very much to be really, really interesting.

Sunday mornings I watch two political TV shows, one striving for the middle ground but falling to the left, one proudly conservative. I learn different things from each.

And the more of an agenda an article has, the more it informs. If there’s a news story that has ten aspects, and the “overbrewed version” highlights six and ignores four because they don’t fit the narrative, then I concentrate on what they don’t say. Why does it not fit the narrative? How does it weaken their arguments? Indeed, how does it weaken my arguments?

It’s easy to get caught up in us versus them, to suggest that one side is the side of angels. For a business, sometime we want to show our support for one side or another, or one cause. Not always: remember, Colonel Tom Parker made a lot of money from “I Love Elvis” badges, but also sold plenty of “I hate Elvis” badges.

Listening to the other side gives you an insight into where your arguments are weak. It gives you an idea of what they don’t want to mention. And listening to the outliers on “your own side” does the same. And it also shows where they want to spread confusion and untruths.

To swing the argument back to tea to close on, if I go past a tea shop that offers tastings, I taste everything I can. (This often applies even if I have to buy multiple cups). And when I find myself in places where they mix two or more of their teas together in the one tasting – notably Teavana in the US or T2 (Liptons) in Australia – its obvious that they’ve taken a leaf from insincere political hacks who confuse and conflate concepts and information because their poor quality ideas can’t stand up on their own.