Hello. If we can return to the original question, I would say that the
simple answer (already implied in passing) is that the chlorine put
into tap water in most countries that I know of is extremely
destructive of true tea taste, and if your tap water is loaded with
limestone / chalk (hard water) that too will spoil things quite
effectively. (I know nothing about fluoride in terms of its effect on
the taste of tea) The easiest solution for most people, I suspect, is
a cheap brand of ordinary bottled water, which is going to be without
chlorine and lime. I do not have taste-buds capable of detecting trace
elements or dissolved oxygen, and I have to confess (shame!) that I
cannot tell if the water used to make tea has previously been allowed
to boil or has only been raised to a threshold temperature well below
boiling, and (worse still?) I do not think it matters much. But
chlorine and hard water are the Death of Tea when the tea is being
drunk for delicacy of taste. By contrast, in my childhood I saw
traditional British breakfast or afternoon teas designed to be served
with milk (and optional sugar) being made using water so hard that the
kettle had to be regularly de-furred with white vinegar to prevent the
spout getting clogged. No one complained about loss of taste back
then! It's another drink, that's all.
Br Anthony