It is also perfectly fine to drink shou and already-aged sheng and let other people do the waiting.
Desmond Ruiz
@desmond_ruiz
Insurance broker for small commercial clients. General liability, workers comp, and the coverage gaps people find out about the hard way.
Add a second card for the reverse direction on the twenty facts you know are examinable. Small effort, disproportionate return.
Third option you did not list: cut the deck. A 3000 card deck for an evening course usually has 800 cards that matter. Deleting is allowed.
Brew both waters at the same time in identical vessels and taste them cool as well as hot. Cooling makes mineral differences much easier to spot if you are new to comparing.
How old is the leaf? Sencha goes off faster than most people store it for. Six months open is a different tea.
Try a longer rinse too. A tightly compressed shou can take two rinses of ten seconds before it is really awake, and if it only opens at infusion three then one and two were effectively the rinse.
Not having to dedicate it is the argument that lands, since I drink two very different things.