Water Water Everywhere... What’s Your Water?

[Teachronicles]

I'm in San francisco, which is notorious for having good water, mostly snow melt from the sierras that runs into the hetch-hetchy reservoir in Yosemite. I've drank the tap water my whole life, the difference in flavor is more pronounced when returning from somewhere that doesn't have good water. It works well for most of my teas, but because of this thread im thinking of trying some bottled waters for some teas that don't always come out great. I know marshaln recommended volvic in an old blog post of his. Funnily, ive bought a few cases of volvic before to test with tea, but only actually made tea with it twice. The waters so tasty I ended up just drinking it all.

[plamarca000]

Does anybody have an experience with maifan stones?

I leave one permanently in my kettle with reverse osmosis water. I think it helps bring back some of the mineral content. I like it but wondering about using a britta instead. I live in Brooklyn so our water to begin with is decent out the tap.

[Baisao]

Not really a big fan of bottled water.

Second that. The ecologic impact does not really justify buying bottled or even worse, imported water. I’d rather spend money on a good filter or other sustainable measures to improve the water.

Taipei water, filtered with an extra tap outlet works very well for all my teas.

If you’re fortunate enough to have water that is good for tea, I’m jealous. At some point our water came from an aquifer at sustainable levels. The water was delicious. As our city grew this became unsustainable so our water now comes from a muddy river and has to be treated heavily. Last month our city of 2 million people were put on a boil water notice for a week because of excess sediment from flash floods at the water plants. The water is still foul and I’ve noticed a change in biofilm/flora in our pipes. The biofilm had been pink but now is gray. Biofilms develop in the pipes of muni water systems around the world, so their existence doesn’t concern me but the type of flora represented does have me concerned. The large amounts of chloramine used when the water came back online appears to have killed the pink biofilm, allowing the gray biofilm to take over. Is it safe? I don’t know since there’s little research on these biofilms other than their proven relationship to respiratory infections.

Regardless, our water has been foul for a while.

I really shouldn’t complain when there are people in Flint, Michigan who got lead poisoning from their tap water. And it remains undrinkable.

I haven’t found a domestic bottled water that tastes as good with tea as these two imported ones. While I recognize the ecological impact importing bottled water has, I also mitigate the damage by only using it only for tea (I drink tap all other times), recycling the plastic, frequently working from home rather than commuting, not flying, etc.

[Rickpatbrown]

I posted this in another forum, but looks like this group is a bit more active.

I recently spent 6 weeks in Freidburg, Germany (old town) for work. I took my high mountain tea with me and couldn't BELIEVE how much better it tasted! I also was staying right down the street from a super cool tea shop and was exposed to the world of pu'erh for the first time. The teas that I tasted and bought were magical.

As soon as I returned to the US (Baltimore suburbs), it was like a kick to the gut. My beautiful teas are now so empty and unbalanced. I've been on a mission to find good water to regain entry to the promised land of delicately complex and mindblowing tea! This is what I've tried

Crystal springs (Cheap, but not much better than brita)
Deer Park (Aweful)
Wegman's spring water (Cheap, but not much better than brita)
Fuji (Expensive)
Poland springs ($1.25/gallon)
Mountain valley springs (From Ozarks, glass bottles, $20/5gallon!)
Clay kettle (Anta Pottery clay boiler from Taiwan Sourcing)

Nothing has come close to Freidburg, Germany tapwater boiled on the stove top. Zurich had good water too, although it was very hard with glacier minerals.

I've settled on Poland springs for now. The Mountain Valley Springs got cloudy when boiled and only marginally improved the tea flavor. I can't spend $40-$60 a month on water for tea, either.

I love the clay kettle in terms of mechanical use (it pours very softly and accurately with a small wrist movement and is on a hot plate next to my couch for a much better tea drinking experience), but it doesn't drastically affect my tea flavor ... maybe just slightly.

My friend down the street says he has nice well water. I need to stop over and try some to see if that makes a difference.

[Victoria]

[mention]Rickpatbrown[/mention] Welcome to TeaForum.
I just noticed I was in a conversation a few years ago about bottled water locally sourced in or near Maryland, over at our old forum. Have you come across Mountain Valley Spring ?. I have not tried it yet because it’s by delivery, and I’m not I’m Maryland every month. Oh, it is sourced in Arkansas, so not exactly close to Maryland. I also posted over there that I liked Volvic. Didn’t remember that. Sometimes I’ll google something and find I already posted about it a few years before . TDS at 230 looks high though. Info on Volvic

[Rickpatbrown]

Rickpatbrown Welcome to TeaForum.
I just noticed I was in a conversation a few years ago about bottled water locally sourced in or near Maryland, over at our old forum. Have you come across Mountain Valley Spring ?. I have not tried it yet because it’s by delivery, and I’m not I’m Maryland every month. Oh, it is sourced in Arkansas, so not exactly close to Maryland. I also posted over there that I liked Volvic. Didn’t remember that. Sometimes I’ll google something and find I already posted about it a few years before . TDS at 230 looks high though.

Hi Victoria. I did try the Mountain Valley Spring water. I decided that it was too expensive to make it my regular source (about $20/5gallons, delivered). It comes in a really nice glass bottle and they claimed the pH was higher, like around 8-9, if I recall correctly.

When I boiled the water, a white solid would precipitate. It didn't seem to negatively affect anything flavor wise, but it caused a powdery build up on my kettle.

It made pretty nice tea, but not as good as Freiburg, Germany. I'm not 100% sure that it was the water, exclusively that made such a difference. When I was in Germany, the tea shop owner mentioned that tea tastes different to us because we are not the same people when we are in different places. I agree and think that our surroundings affect how we perceive flavor and aroma greatly.

[wave_code]

I grew up in the suburbs outside of DC- clean, but such awful tasting water. I never noticed it growing up but as soon as I moved away whenever I go back to visit it is almost undrinkable to me. So much chlorine or fluoride or something - it tastes like a swimming pool. You can smell it without even having a sip.

There is a lot of calcium and/or lime in the water here- I have to scrub my boiler out every week and even then it builds up. If I use the whole kettle sometimes I'll find bits of scale in my pot cleaning it out after. I need to find some way of filtering it or cutting it down. I don't like the idea of bottled water if I can avoid it when the tap water is reasonably good and plenty drinkable aside from the high mineral content. Thinking about setting up a pitcher in the fridge with some activated charcoal and using that as my tea water to see if it makes a difference.

[Bok]

I grew up in the suburbs outside of DC- clean, but such awful tasting water. I never noticed it growing up but as soon as I moved away whenever I go back to visit it is almost undrinkable to me. So much chlorine or fluoride or something - it tastes like a swimming pool. You can smell it without even having a sip.

Sounds like the water I go served with tea in the south of China

Still remember my first time going to the US and wondering why the Coke at McDo tastes so funny and awful...

[Bok]

@Baisao I tend to forget my privileged growing up in Europe, where water is clean and drinkable nearly everywhere…
When I first went to Mexico, it took me a long time to get used to not to swallow any water when brushing my teeth or showering.

I did only think about the natural water properties itself, as opposed to genuine polluted or otherwise spiked water.

[Baisao]

Baisao I tend to forget my privileged growing up in Europe, where water is clean and drinkable nearly everywhere…
When I first went to Mexico, it took me a long time to get used to not to swallow any water when brushing my teeth or showering.

I did only think about the natural water properties itself, as opposed to genuine polluted or otherwise spiked water.

It’s shocking how much of this first world nation has water that is poor quality. The water here isn’t as bad as most but it still isn’t good for tea.

Also, it doesn’t help that I am sensitive to these things. I was leading a class one night at a business that has appropriately treated water. The water is purified via RO and then re-mineralized to an ideal TDS and flavor profile. They usually draw their water at 100°c but I wanted the water for the class at 85°c, so to do this for me they added a splash of tap water to the heated purified and re-mineralized water. When it came to discuss the aromas of the teas I was hit with the strong odor of chlorine/chloramine and was nose-blind to any other aromas. None of the students noticed this but I was flying blind. I had to recall notes from previous experiences with the teas I served because I couldn’t smell them through the smell of chlorine. I didn’t let on but it was a bit nerve wracking to discuss teas I couldn’t actually smell. :-/

[Bok]

@Baisao sounds like an awful experience, feel for you!

Next time you can ask them to pour the water a few times front and back between another container to get it down to where you want it.

[Baisao]

Baisao sounds like an awful experience, feel for you!

Next time you can ask them to pour the water a few times front and back between another container to get it down to where you want it.

That’s a great idea. I’ll try it next time.

I have a notoriously acute sense of smell. My son told me today that it sounds like a curse— and it can be— but it’s a wonderful gift when drinking tea or eating. Aromas have dimensions to them that are hard to explain. It’s an almost synesthesia-like experience for me.

Anyway, maybe most people would be fine with our local tap and I am too sensitive. Hi-ho.

[wave_code]

I grew up in the suburbs outside of DC- clean, but such awful tasting water. I never noticed it growing up but as soon as I moved away whenever I go back to visit it is almost undrinkable to me. So much chlorine or fluoride or something - it tastes like a swimming pool. You can smell it without even having a sip.

Sounds like the water I go served with tea in the south of China

Still remember my first time going to the US and wondering why the Coke at McDo tastes so funny and awful...

This is probably more because of the recipe than the water actually. Coke in the US is made using corn syrup not real sugar, much more disgustingly sweet and not very good for you. A lot of people buy coke imported from Mexico in glass bottles because it is made with actual sugar and tastes much better. The amount of hidden sugar/corn syrup under different names in American processed foods is amazing. Consuming high amounts of sugar like this all the time also seriously warps people's sense of taste. I remember when I went vegan and started to avoid all processed foods my palette changed drastically over a period of a few months getting used to reduced sugar/sodium in my diet- suddenly everything tasted more, and better. I drink soda very rarely, mostly on very hot days in the summer to get some sugar/electrolytes and when I do I actually usually water it down 50/50 with soda water.

It makes me think about the artist Robert Irwin and his obsession with coke. In all the interviews/books I have read with him it comes up. How he seeks out particular coke machines because when they are new the proportion of syrup/water is better, the ice in the machine is cleaner, so on. It makes total sense given his art is all about subtlety and perception. Just funny and very American/California to me that someone who made paintings early on inspired by their encounters with Raku bowls applies his delicate and detailed perception skills instead to cola

[Bok]

@wave_code it had a particular chlorine taste to it, the machines in mcdo are mixing the coke with water and the ice cubes do their thing as well.

[Baisao]

First world problems: this was in the local news today. A town an hour away has corrosive tap water. It's probably not good for tea.