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

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Rickpatbrown
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Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:27 pm

teasecret wrote:
Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:12 am
I wrote a post about my year-long exploration of water. https://teasecrets.home.blog/2018/12/28 ... -in-water/
TL;DR I mineralize my filtered tap water in a specific way.
I dont understand why we can't just figure out good recipes like this. Water complicated, but it's not impossible to analyze its components.

Then, we can start with pure water (RO, distilled, etc) and add the right mixture.
.m.
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Tue Jan 01, 2019 10:04 am

I'd say that many of us might prefer, if that is a possibility, to start with a good water and perhaps improve it further through filtration and to enhance it through adding some minerals or through the kettle used for boiling, rather than stripping it of all minerals, reducing it to components and reconstituting. But both are possible and both can make a good water. The chemistry of remineralization is nevertheless quite complex, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there.
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teasecret
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Tue Jan 01, 2019 11:21 am

I'm going to say that remineralized water is a crude solution and is not without its tradeoffs. I sometimes prefer not to use the mineralized water when I want a more natural refreshing taste. I didn't mention in the post but the Waterdrop filter is my go-to because it does NOT lower TDS. You heard me right! A water filter that does not reduce minerals.
theredbaron
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Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:39 pm

Rickpatbrown wrote:
Sun Dec 16, 2018 2:42 pm
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.



This is very interesting.
The bottled water i found best here in Germany for tea is called "Black Forest" is a low mineral water from the black forest, which is very close to Freiburg (i think you mean Freiburg, not Freidburg - i don't think there is a city called "Freidburg"). I live close to the Alps, where the water is excellent to drink, but so hard that it destroys every tea. There is no choice but using bottled water.
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wave_code
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Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:31 am

theredbaron wrote:
Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:39 pm
Rickpatbrown wrote:
Sun Dec 16, 2018 2:42 pm
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.



This is very interesting.
The bottled water i found best here in Germany for tea is called "Black Forest" is a low mineral water from the black forest, which is very close to Freiburg (i think you mean Freiburg, not Freidburg - i don't think there is a city called "Freidburg"). I live close to the Alps, where the water is excellent to drink, but so hard that it destroys every tea. There is no choice but using bottled water.
I was in the general area over the holidays and mostly just making bowl tea while there. I was using local bottled water for the first few days, but even if its local and re-used glass I feel bad about using so much bottled water so I switched to the tap and the difference was huge. Instantly everything I made went to having zero flavor, didn't seem to make any difference trying to use more leaves or go for longer steeps, different teas. Everything suddenly tasted super one dimensional, like a cheap tea bag version of itself.
theredbaron
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Wed Jan 09, 2019 2:41 pm

wave_code wrote:
Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:31 am


I was in the general area over the holidays and mostly just making bowl tea while there. I was using local bottled water for the first few days, but even if its local and re-used glass I feel bad about using so much bottled water so I switched to the tap and the difference was huge. Instantly everything I made went to having zero flavor, didn't seem to make any difference trying to use more leaves or go for longer steeps, different teas. Everything suddenly tasted super one dimensional, like a cheap tea bag version of itself.
While for normal drinking i would not use bottled water, either tap water (as here in Germany) or filtered water (when i lived in Bangkok).
But for drinking tea, water of the right quality is absolutely necessary, and unless one lives in an area with pefect quality spring water, one will have to resort to a bottled water. There simply is no alterative if one wants to get the best out of one's expensive and rare teas.
With all the debate over teapots, and brewing techniques, etc - water is the most deciding factor. In the end, a cup of tea constists to 99,9999999.... % of water. If one is not willing to use good mineral water soft enough to suit for tea, one is better off with Lipton tea bags, because the goood teas are wasted, and so is all the expensive tea ware.
I understand the environmental issues with bottled water, so i would always suggest to try to use a water as local as possible (black forest is only a few hundred kilometers away from where i live).
swordofmytriumph
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Wed Jan 09, 2019 3:59 pm

I do just fine with tap water, but then the water in the Seattle area is notoriously good (I live in a small town 30 min east of Seattle and we are on ground water). Maybe I’ll swing by the water district office tomorrow and ask for their testing results.
Our water is so tasty, I find bottled water kind of gross, at least most bottled water, so it never even occurred to me to use it for tea. Our ph is a tiny bit higher than neural tho, iirc.
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Bok
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:02 am

My recent visit back home made me look into methods to reduce mineral content in water. It is true the water in the Alps region is delicious to drink, but tea turns out terrible with it… Nonetheless, I can not bring myself to buy bottled water. The hard water, combined with the dry climate, makes tea fall off to roughly 10% of its potential (in my experience). Such a waste. Only more roasted or black teas are still kind of recognisable, the greener ones turn flat.

What I found mentioned to soften water was the use of peat moss, anyone tried that?

Another thing I was wondering if boiling hard water in a Tetsubin has any beneficial effects? Apart from possibly turning it into a snowy black mountain ;)

Back in Asia now so I can not test anything, relying on the communities input! Otherwise I’d also try my porous clay kettle (Japanese clay).
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Baisao
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:42 am

Bok wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:02 am
It is true the water in the Alps region is delicious to drink, but tea turns out terrible with it… Nonetheless, I can not bring myself to buy bottled water. The hard water, combined with the dry climate, makes tea fall off to roughly 10% of its potential (in my experience). Such a waste. Only more roasted or black teas are still kind of recognisable, the greener ones turn flat.
I’ve heard precisely that from someone else in the alps. They were practically depressed after returning to the alps after years in Taiwan. Tea was a ghost of what it had been.
theredbaron
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:31 am

Bok wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:02 am
My recent visit back home made me look into methods to reduce mineral content in water. It is true the water in the Alps region is delicious to drink, but tea turns out terrible with it… Nonetheless, I can not bring myself to buy bottled water. The hard water, combined with the dry climate, makes tea fall off to roughly 10% of its potential (in my experience). Such a waste. Only more roasted or black teas are still kind of recognisable, the greener ones turn flat.

What I found mentioned to soften water was the use of peat moss, anyone tried that?

Another thing I was wondering if boiling hard water in a Tetsubin has any beneficial effects? Apart from possibly turning it into a snowy black mountain ;)

Back in Asia now so I can not test anything, relying on the communities input! Otherwise I’d also try my porous clay kettle (Japanese clay).

The Alps are lime stone mountains, and that seriously destroys every good tea, and as you said, you just get a colored flat brew. There is just no way to make this water good enough for tea. I find using "Black Forest" bottled water is very good, and almost local, the source just a few hundred kilometers away. And i do not see any climate related fall off with my teas at all. When i lived in Bangkok (and you really do not want to use Bangkok water for tea, even when filtered), i had not such good bottled water available as i have now here. All of my teas are singing now.
If you would boil tap water from the alps region in a Tetsubin the only thing that would happen is that its inside get a thick layer of white lime scale almost instantly.
theredbaron
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:32 am

Baisao wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:42 am


I’ve heard precisely that from someone else in the alps. They were practically depressed after returning to the alps after years in Taiwan. Tea was a ghost of what it had been.
There is just one logical solution to that, if one still wants to enjoy good tea - use bottled water for tea.
theredbaron
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:35 am

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Wed Jan 09, 2019 3:59 pm
I do just fine with tap water, but then the water in the Seattle area is notoriously good (I live in a small town 30 min east of Seattle and we are on ground water). Maybe I’ll swing by the water district office tomorrow and ask for their testing results.
Our water is so tasty, I find bottled water kind of gross, at least most bottled water, so it never even occurred to me to use it for tea. Our ph is a tiny bit higher than neural tho, iirc.
The question is not really if the water is good, but suitable for tea.
Here with European Alps as the source for Tap water the water is one of the best in the world - for drinking, but not for tea. I don't know about Seattle, never been in the US yet, but i can only suggest to experiment and do comparisons between different known (and unknown) bottles waters, and your usual tap water.
Here where i live the difference is enormous.
swordofmytriumph
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:32 pm

theredbaron wrote:
Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:35 am
swordofmytriumph wrote:
Wed Jan 09, 2019 3:59 pm
I do just fine with tap water, but then the water in the Seattle area is notoriously good (I live in a small town 30 min east of Seattle and we are on ground water). Maybe I’ll swing by the water district office tomorrow and ask for their testing results.
Our water is so tasty, I find bottled water kind of gross, at least most bottled water, so it never even occurred to me to use it for tea. Our ph is a tiny bit higher than neural tho, iirc.
The question is not really if the water is good, but suitable for tea.
Here with European Alps as the source for Tap water the water is one of the best in the world - for drinking, but not for tea. I don't know about Seattle, never been in the US yet, but i can only suggest to experiment and do comparisons between different known (and unknown) bottles waters, and your usual tap water.
Here where i live the difference is enormous.
Yeah, I’ll do some comparisons, try that water from Walgreens that was mentioned earlier. I do know that our water hardness falls somewhere between soft and hard, in a pretty happy medium and that our ph is relatively neutral, a tiny bit alkaline but not by much. It’s my weekend at the moment, so I’m gonna conduct a little scientific inquiry. :) I’m also going to stop by the water office and get the test results.
plamarca000
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:16 pm

After reading this thread I played around with water options.

I originally was just using a reverse osmosis filter that was filtering Brooklyn tap water. Tea was flat and did not have great flavor and mouth feel. Just thin and lifeless.

I then ordered a case of Volvic. The tea tasted OK but still a little flat. It still was lacking something.

After reading about reminerlizing water through some of the above posts and some microbrew forums I found this pitcher.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HY ... UTF8&psc=1

I used it with the reverse osmosis water and now the tea tastes amazing. The filter adds back the minerals and increases the TDS content. The tea feels thick and has a great taste to it. Pretty satisfied with these results. I am also have a clay kettle in the mail that I will use with this water to see if I can enhance it a little bit more.
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Rickpatbrown
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Thu Jan 10, 2019 7:19 pm

theredbaron wrote:
Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:39 pm
This is very interesting.
The bottled water i found best here in Germany for tea is called "Black Forest" is a low mineral water from the black forest, which is very close to Freiburg (i think you mean Freiburg, not Freidburg - i don't think there is a city called "Freidburg"). I live close to the Alps, where the water is excellent to drink, but so hard that it destroys every tea. There is no choice but using bottled water.
Yes. I meant Freiburg im Breisgau.
wave_code wrote:
Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:31 am
I was in the general area over the holidays and mostly just making bowl tea while there. I was using local bottled water for the first few days, but even if its local and re-used glass I feel bad about using so much bottled water so I switched to the tap and the difference was huge. Instantly everything I made went to having zero flavor, didn't seem to make any difference trying to use more leaves or go for longer steeps, different teas. Everything suddenly tasted super one dimensional, like a cheap tea bag version of itself.
Really?? In Freiburg? I was told that one side of the town had excellent water, while the other, newer side, got their water from a different source. At the lab I was working in, the water was chalky, but the apartment was great. Its interesting how quickly things can change.
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