SN wrote:
>>a cake of my best Pu-erh
>>to anyone who can provide some convincing science to support the
>>oft-cited "fact" that oxygen in water is critical to making good tea.
>
> me first!
> ahem,
> water = H2O
> no O = no water (?--> hydrogen tea infusion... O_O ?)

In general, non-aqueous solvent extractions of plant materials will
produce a very different product. However, there are two small but
significant categories of materials that often do what water can, and
sometimes even better: the so-called "super-solvents" that are both
highly polar and aprotic, and close homologues to water. The former
include hexamethylphosphoramide, dimethylformamide and
dimethylsulfoxide; the latter ammonia, hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen
sulfide. The former all contain oxygen.

Please let me know when you have confirmed that NH3, HF and H2S do not
make good tea, and the cake is yours. Come to think of it, better
include hydrazine. (Or you can just buy one from Eric at Pu-erhtea.com;
it's under $50, unlabeled but about 14 years old, and absolutely
delicious. Thanks to Mike P. for letting me know about it.)

-DM