Water Quality
Just as important as the quality of the tea itself is the quality of the water you use to brew a certain tea. Brewed tea is 98% water, so it makes sense that the water you use will affect the taste of the tea immensely. At this point without the disposal of a lab and scientists capable of testing water for chemical composition, I cannot tell you which minerals add or take away flavor.
Which minerals give favorable or unfavorable tastes to the tea is still a mystery to me. I know from my own basic research that the quality of the water affects everything involved with the taste of brewed tea.
For example, a tea I had brewed with water in California tasted light years better than the same tea brewed with my inferior Boston area water. Not only that, but the brew time and color of the liquor are totally different.
One thing that seems to help out a lot is using very soft water. When I say soft, I mean 20-40 parts per million mineral content. Most bottled water has a much higher mineral content. It is clear when you brew tea with water that has 200 parts per million mineral content, that there are some good and some possbily negative minerals in water. If you really pay attention and taste the water itself you can taste the sweetness, and the minerality.
I mean, how can you expect to get the same type of extraction when you have 180 more parts per million already in the water? In nutrition you learn that certain vitamins and minerals stop each other from being absorbed into the human body. Could this be true with tea? Could the vitamin and mineral content of a particular tea effect the way that tea brews with certain water?
I have found San Francisco Bay Area water and New York City water tend to work well when brewing tea. I have also found Voss and Penta bottled waters to work well. Any bottled water with a high mineral content seems to make the tea taste bitter. At home I have a filter and softening tap that brings the mineral content of my tap water down to about 20-40 parts per million. This water still does not work as well as the water I had last time I went to the Bay Area.
A couple of weeks ago, I tasted tea with Mark over at MEM Tea Imports. We brewed 3 of the same teas with 2 different waters and the color of the brewed tea was drastically different. The taste was also incredibly different. Not only did one of the waters produce a fuller, sweeter taste, but it was also more complex in flavor.
There is still a lot to be learned and experimented with involving water, but just tasting the difference between tap and different bottled waters is mind blowing.
-Silas
Which minerals give favorable or unfavorable tastes to the tea is still a mystery to me. I know from my own basic research that the quality of the water affects everything involved with the taste of brewed tea.
For example, a tea I had brewed with water in California tasted light years better than the same tea brewed with my inferior Boston area water. Not only that, but the brew time and color of the liquor are totally different.
One thing that seems to help out a lot is using very soft water. When I say soft, I mean 20-40 parts per million mineral content. Most bottled water has a much higher mineral content. It is clear when you brew tea with water that has 200 parts per million mineral content, that there are some good and some possbily negative minerals in water. If you really pay attention and taste the water itself you can taste the sweetness, and the minerality.
I mean, how can you expect to get the same type of extraction when you have 180 more parts per million already in the water? In nutrition you learn that certain vitamins and minerals stop each other from being absorbed into the human body. Could this be true with tea? Could the vitamin and mineral content of a particular tea effect the way that tea brews with certain water?
I have found San Francisco Bay Area water and New York City water tend to work well when brewing tea. I have also found Voss and Penta bottled waters to work well. Any bottled water with a high mineral content seems to make the tea taste bitter. At home I have a filter and softening tap that brings the mineral content of my tap water down to about 20-40 parts per million. This water still does not work as well as the water I had last time I went to the Bay Area.
A couple of weeks ago, I tasted tea with Mark over at MEM Tea Imports. We brewed 3 of the same teas with 2 different waters and the color of the brewed tea was drastically different. The taste was also incredibly different. Not only did one of the waters produce a fuller, sweeter taste, but it was also more complex in flavor.
There is still a lot to be learned and experimented with involving water, but just tasting the difference between tap and different bottled waters is mind blowing.
-Silas
Labels: tea, water quality
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