Green Tea Forum

Rui · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 4

With every cup of tea I drink, the importance of soft water is more obvious to my eyes (well, my mouth acctually Very Happy

). Good water is just as important as good leaves, and maybe even more hard to find, especialy if you live in a big city.

I've been searching the net for quite some time now, trying to find a good sollution, but there are so many water filters and softeners around, that its hard to make the right choice.

If any of you knows more than i do, please, advice.
Regards, Rui

Shirley · White Belt Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 29 Location: NC

I use to live in ny. I used a pur. It was good.

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

Yeah, I'd suggest trying a brita or pur filter. They're essentially the same thing, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. If that doesn't work, you could try bottled water, though that might get a bit expensive. If you're really serious, you could invest in a reverse osmosis system, but those aren't cheap either.

Hope this helps!

Ryan · Sensei Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 475

Water is definitely a real consideration with tea and does have a significant effect on the flavor and aroma of your tea.

I have a countertop reverse osmosis filter, and for a tea like the recently discontinued asa-giri the RO water doesn't measure up! It is because of the lack of minerals. So though RO water is very pure, I do not find it ideal for tea unfortunately. I use my RO water for drinking only.

I finally decided for tea I will use exclusively bottled water. At Whole Foods they sell very good water for 99 scents a gallon. So though for drinking water many filters will make your water more healthy, when it comes to tea I haven't found anything as good as spring water. Though, the spring water you buy shouldn't have a total dissolved solids level of over 150 ppm as this is too much in my opinon and will have a detrimental effect on the flavor. The Whole foods water has around 130 ppm.

However, your tap water may have a TDS of under 150ppm. If that is the case, a good filter would be perfect, in order to get rid of things like chlorine and other impurities which make water taste bad.

In my city the TDS is somewhat over 200 PPM, not ideal.

Good luck on finding what you're looking for.

Rui · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 4

So a carbon filter could be at least good enough or possibly even better? RO system is way too expensive for me...

And people...heat your tea before you pour water over it. Results are fascinating Wink

Ryan · Sensei Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 475

This looks like a good filter: http://www.aquasana.com/product.cfm?id=1

Not really sure... One thing you have to be very careful about with filters like the one above, and probably any filter is not to let any warm water pass through it, because apparently this can have a detrimental effect on the filter. Good idea to get into the habit of feeling the water coming from the facuet before you activate the filter to be sure it's cold.

The only thing about a carbon filter is it will not reduce hardness as far as I understand. Meaning, it will not reduce mineral content. However, it will certainly reduce items such as chlorine which contribute to a bad overall flavor.

Tea is a necessity. And as a result man also needs water.