TeaChat

Hi people...

Just been wondering about this since starting gong-fu'ing (not sure if that's a word).

I've always understood and told others not to re-boil water as this can make 'flat' tasting tea because of lack of oxgen in the water.

Now from watching gong-fu videos and learning how to prepare pu-erh tea with boiling water it seems strange to now have to reboil the water in the kettle between rinsing/washing the pu-erh tea leaves and heating the cups and the various infusions/steepings.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I'm not the world's most sensitive guy, so I never worried about reboiling and other such fine points. Since I switched to using a Zoji, however, the issue doesn't even come up in my life any more.

I always add more water between boils.

I usually boil fresh water for each infusion and only boil the amount I need ~OR~ after boiling place the ceramic kettle on an alcohol burner that keeps it just under a boil.

All the discussions on water we have, we should have a seperate category for WATER.

Using a utiliTEA, I boil a pretty full pot and the water stays hot if I am doing a series of steeps fairly rapidly or in succession. If I just need enough for a single steep, I will often use a Hotshot.

But I try to use all fresh water generally. I do reboil with added water on occasion for a later steep only, such as a 5th steep of sencha. Fresh water doesn't make any difference at that point.

I believe I read in the AofT that you want to keep boiling to a min since releases the oxygen in it. Oxygen is said to enhance the flavor. I will see if I can locate where I found it.

hop_goblin wrote:I believe I read in the AofT that you want to keep boiling to a min since releases the oxygen in it. Oxygen is said to enhance the flavor. I will see if I can locate where I found it.

MarshalN posted an interesting look at Ming dynasty texts on water for tea & boiling:
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN/641264256/item.html

This is a water related question, believe it was answered before but can't find the topic. I use only distilled water, the bottled spring water here has too many sediments (after a boil white stuff floats on top of kettle).

I recall someone here at teachat suggested adding gypsum to pure water to add trace minerals?

Can anyone verify this, or express their opinion regarding pure water. I think tap or filtered water is tainted unfit to drink and unfit for my tea

cheers,

orguz wrote:I use only distilled water...I think tap or filtered water is tainted unfit to drink and unfit for my tea

It's a matter of taste, but distilled water tends to make flat tea. You might consider using meifan stones, bamboo charcoal, or ionic minerals (like Concentrace) in your distilled water to add minerals.

i also have a zoji-like device... this discussion makes me wonder:

if the water is always hot in there, molecules agitated, wouldn't the dissolved oxygen slowly seep out?

I've tried both and the difference isn't enough to make it worth it. Considering most gongfu teas go at least 6 steeps, and sometimes to the high teens, it would be ridiculous to reboil fresh water for each steep.

I have a Zojirushi which keeps water hot all day. I only refill it when it runs low.

bearsbearsbears wrote:
You might consider using meifan stones.

Actually, last Saturday I bought some meifan stones and the resulting tea tasted bad, stale like, afterwards I brewed the same tea without stone treated water to make sure it wasn't the tea leafs that were stale. The test proved that the stones were the culprit.

Can you tell me how you prepared your meifan stones before using? I boiled them for 20/30 minutes. and left them in a pitcher with my distilled water. For the first brew the water was left for 5 mins, and the second use was after an overnight soak. What do you think, was the water left too long in with the meifan? Have you had any problems?

I always let my tea come to a rolling boil, then turn off. Sometimes i reboil once.

But honestly i don't care that much. I don't think it makes a big difference, unless youre boiling the water for 5-10 minutes or something extreme like that.

lastcoyote wrote: ...lack of oxgen in the water.

The logic of this oxygen argument always escapes me. I am no chemist, but water is oxygen and hydrogen, both gases, bound together. If boiling breaks the bond, then both are gone and you just have less water. Maybe a chemist could explain where my thinking is wrong.

free oxygen is dissolved in water (its what fish "breathe")

the boiling doesnt break the h2o bonds
when the water gets hot all h2o molecules become agitated, dissolved oxygen too-and it goes out of the liquid....