Overanalyzing everything loses some of the "magic". I drink tea, but I assume there's a similar sort of zen-like ritual to the whole process. That's somewhat it odds with turning the whole thing into a science experiment.

Granted, some of that is a projection of positivity onto what is just another simply addictive substance, but I digress.

A lot of tasks in life have elements of this though, including creative thinking and flow-state work which continually logging and categorizing can somewhat interrupt.

In your case I'd consider doing a 1-off analysis of "the perfect cup", with full data collection for a couple of weeks. Then analyze it, distill it down, and extract the lesson and conclusions. Then go back to the more organic method, and hopefully the cup is a little better. Win win.

As some other comments have mentioned, there's a streak of obsessiveness and anxiety in the original piece. Everything doesn't need to be extensively logged, and it doesn't necessarily need to be something you do everyday. A lot of the "burden" aspect seems to be from some internal issues that the author needs to work on.

All of these approaches are just tools. They can be used with a light touch approach (maybe only very complex projects need a vigorously searchable and indexed "second brain", and most of the time a .txt file in a simple daily log that takes no more than 2 minutes per day is more than enough, etc). And I know, those two approaches don't perfectly interface with one another, but creating an all-encompassing perfect system is an exercise and futility, and if that's the goal, then no wonder it's a massive cause of anxiety.