"Alton B. Wilson" wrote in message
...
I have a general question about water quality and what impact it has on the
taste of tea. I'm thinking of pH, mineral content etc.

Is there any one factor that is most significant in contributing to off
taste? Is anyone using bottled water or distilled water or deionized
water to make tea?

Does anyone have experience with making tea from water that has been run
through a reverse osmosis filtering system?

Thanks in advance,

Alton

I tend to make all my tea from RO water. I've tried expensive spring
waters, and honestly I had a hard time discerning the difference. Most tap
water in my area (eastern PA USA) is chlorinated, which I find REALLY
objectionable in tea. My local market has a RO machine, and one can bring
in containers and fill them there.

I've also experimented with adding small quantities of soluble salts (Na, K,
Ca, Mg) to my RO water to see what effect it has on the resulting tea, and
although I can detect a difference with some teas, on average I don't
necessarily prefer it.

My $0.02.

Regards,
Dean

On Mar 7, 6:16*pm, "DPM" wrote:
"Alton B. Wilson" wrote in m...

I have a general question about water quality and what impact it has on the
taste of tea. *I'm thinking of pH, mineral content etc.

Is there any one factor that is most significant in contributing to off
taste? *Is anyone using bottled water or distilled water or deionized
water to make tea?

Does anyone have experience with making tea from water that has been run
through a reverse osmosis filtering system?

Thanks in advance,

Alton

I tend to make all my tea from RO water. *I've tried expensive spring
waters, and honestly I had a hard time discerning the difference. *Most tap
water in my area (eastern PA USA) is chlorinated, which I find REALLY
objectionable in tea. *My local market has a RO machine, and one can bring
in containers and fill them there.

I've also experimented with adding small quantities of soluble salts (Na, K,
Ca, Mg) to my RO water to see what effect it has on the resulting tea, and
although I can detect a difference with some teas, on average I don't
necessarily prefer it.

My $0.02.

Regards,
Dean

Tea always has small quantities of soluble salts (Na, K,
Ca, Mg)
S. M. Changoiwala
Gopaldhara tea company PVT Ltd.
Kolkota
Gardens-soongachi, New Glencoe
Darjeeling- Gopaldhara, Rohini

I've also experimented with adding small quantities of soluble salts (Na,
K,
Ca, Mg) to my RO water to see what effect it has on the resulting tea, and
although I can detect a difference with some teas, on average I don't
necessarily prefer it.

My $0.02.

Regards,
Dean

Tea always has small quantities of soluble salts (Na, K,
Ca, Mg)
S. M. Changoiwala

I understand that. We've had previous discussions on this forum as to what
effect dissolved minerals have on the diffusion of flavor compounds from the
tea leaves into the water. There are some who strongly affirm that natural
spring water, with it's mineral salts, makes noticeably better tasting tea
than that made with RO or distilled water. Others, myself included, are
less enthusiastic. Perhaps it's a matter of taste; perhaps it depends on
complex interactions between the tea and the water.

BTW, how are conditions in Darjeeling this year? I was underwhelmed by the
2007 teas I sampled, and was hoping for a better crop this year.

Regards,
Dean

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

An Sonjae writes:

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)

I don't know about the effect of fluoride in water either, but I do
know there's a lot of fluoride already in the tea leaves before you
add water. And don't forget the aluminum!

/Lew (with no obvious signs of aluminum-induced Alzheimer's yet)
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html