Water water everywhere.....yet is it good for tea?

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Dec 29th, '07, 13:12
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Water water everywhere.....yet is it good for tea?

by Eyes Wide Open » Dec 29th, '07, 13:12

Hi everyone!

I just received a sample set of teas from Adagio today and I am really excited to try all of these fragrant loose leaf teas. I have only had a few cups of loose Earle Gray and silverneedle before today. I have one question before I put my tea pot to work:

Should I be using bottled water? (tap water is decent in the city, so I don't know if it matters)

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Dec 29th, '07, 14:44
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by Salsero » Dec 29th, '07, 14:44

I'd certainly start out with tap as the cheapest and easiest alternative. If you're not happy with those results you could then move to bottled or filtered. The problem with bottled is that they're all different, so the choice then becomes "Which bottled?"

The bad water is some kind of hard water that forms a dark scum when you make tea. You'd probably already know if you have that water. If you do have that problem locally, use bottled or a fancy filter (reverse osmosis then adding back some minerals?)

But for a start: tap water + tea = joy!

Dec 29th, '07, 17:49

by Ed » Dec 29th, '07, 17:49

I use filtered tap water. One of those pitcher-type filters can get rid of a lot of the funky tastes in tap water.

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Dec 29th, '07, 23:38
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by Wesli » Dec 29th, '07, 23:38

Try both and compare!


Experimentation RULES!

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Dec 30th, '07, 00:21
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by Space Samurai » Dec 30th, '07, 00:21

I agree, experiment. It depends on your tap water. I don't like to use tap, cos after a year of bottled/filter water, I can taste the difference, and tap is not where its at.

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Dec 30th, '07, 23:19
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by joelbct » Dec 30th, '07, 23:19

I use filtered tap water. Tastes great, and is much less expensive and better for the environment than buying trucked-in bottled water, which is often just filtered tap water anyway. Try one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Pur-Stage-Pitcher ... 000QR95CQ/

http://www.amazon.com/Pur-Vertical-Fauc ... 0009CEKY6/

Key is change the filters when it says. The faucet mounted ones are nice because you can use a 3-stage filter that adds trace minerals for taste, which is actually excellent.

I use the faucet-mounted model to fill an airt-tight glass pitcher which I keep in the fridge. Thus, the water has less contact with plastic. Also, the faucet-mounted version lasts 100 gallons, so you shouldn't have to replace it very often.

Hope this helps, and happy tea-drinking!

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Dec 31st, '07, 13:38
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by Mary R » Dec 31st, '07, 13:38

It is far, far to easy to quote Coleridge in this situation. :)

I use filtered tap too...nothing special, just a Brita or Pur. When I have to use commercially reverse osmosised stuff, I add a touch of salt. Marshal was right...RO is too filtered. Home RO systems seem to be okay, though...either that or my friend needs to change her filters!

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