On Dec 8, 2:09 pm, "Bluesea" > wrote:
> My tap water is terrible and I switched to drinking distilled water a long
> time ago, making tea with it, too. I know everybody says it makes tea taste
> flat, but it's been tasting fresh and crisp to me.
>
> While in LA this past spring, where the water is even worse, I got tired of
> looking for water and paying deposits for the containers. I switched to
> refilling my gallon jugs from a 25-cent RO machine. After a while of doing
> that, I got tired of lugging the jugs downstairs and up again and bought a
> Brita filtering pitcher.
>
> About two weeks ago, I went back to distilled water out of curiosity. I'm
> supposed to change my filter, soon, and I wanted to see if I could tell the
> difference with tea made with distilled water and water made from the old
> filter and new filter. Distilled water stills gives me that fresh, crisp
> sensation and on a whim, I bought a bottle of spring water.
>
> Wow, what a difference! Yes, distilled water gives a distinctly flat
> sensation to my tea while spring water gives a very nice, soft, rounded
> feeling.
>
> Unfortunately, my next bottle of spring water came from a different store
> and the spring is in a different state. The difference isn't as remarkable
> and I don't like it as much. It might be because the water wasn't processed
> the same.
>
> So, now I get to be a connoisseur of spring waters as well as of teas and
> brewing methods to get the most from the experience.

I use poland spring water. I signed up for home delivery where they
give you
5 huge bottles a month (for me about 2.5-3 is enough for month, so I
sometimes
will call them and tell them not to deliver one month). I believe they
are
5 gallon bottles. Poland spring is the better tasting spring water of
the ones
I tried, as water, because I haven't tried others to make tea. Poland
spring
in 1/2 liter bottles (or smaller) is the best-tasting, it's
significantly better than
the water from 1 gallon or 5 gallon bottles. It's hard to describe but
it tastles
a little like very diluted carrot juice taste, and at the same time
this taste
seems to add freshness. It tastes almost as good as a really good tea.
By the way, these bottles are bottled from a different spring. In
fact, they
list a number of springs on the bottle. But it may be that this great
taste
is actually caused by the type of plastic they use for these bottles,
I'm not
sure. If that is the case, you'd expect small bottles' water to taste
better
because ratio of inner plastic surface is greater. It may also be that
smaller bottles are fresher because they make better money on them
and they try to bring you the freshest water in them to encourage us
to
buy these more expensive (per volume) bottles.

Anyway, the water in NY is reportedly one of the best in the country,
but I could never stand tap water - there's too much metallic taste.
It
may be in part because of my old building, though. Even the filter
doesn't do much to alleviate the metallic taste.

I'd like to hear opinions on what spring water is best for teas.

By the way, the method of boiling the water is also important for
taste.
When I use an electric range, tea tastes differently, and I don't like
it,
even though it's hard for me to describe the difference. Black teas
taste a little sweeter but at the same time muddier. It may be beacuse
of the time it takes to boil the water, I noticed that if water is
boiled
slowly, using small flame of gas range, you also can get similar
effect,
the best tea I manage to make happens when I boil the water as
quickly as possible, with almost maximum flame, even though
kettle instructions usually say not to use maximum flame.

Obviously, in a strongly brewed ceylon or assam with plenty of milk,
the difference in water is probably not as big. For mild whites and
greens, on the other hand...





>
> --
> ~~Bluesea~~
> Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
> Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.