My husband and I tasted the same tea through 8 infusions with two kinds of water:
1. NYC tap water rested for two days in a stone-ware jug (on the counter with a cover) then boiled in a metal electric kettle then poured in to a red testubin-style tea kettle a placed on a volitive.
1. Crystal Geyser bottled water. Allowed to sit for 4 hours. (don't know if spring water needs to sit) then boiled in a similar metal electric kettle then poured a black testubin-style tea kettle a placed on a volitive.
1990's Fuhai Tea Factory '7532' was the tea since we both like it.
For pots I used two similar cheap pots, though one is 10 ml larger than the other they are of the same manufacture.
My husband mixed the waters up so I would no know which kettle had which water, then I mixed the testubin-pots up so he would not know which testubin-pots had which kettle's water.
Only by sharing what we both knew could we know what water we were drinking.
The result? There was a vary clear difference. One was consistently more bitter through all infusions. The other was softer and more round through all infusions. One had a metallic aftertaste-- the other had none.
It was not enough to "ruin" the tea, but we both liked one over the other... when we decided to share which was which...it was NYC tap that won.
So, I'll stick with it for the time being.
The next test will be to see if "resting" the water even matters.
Mar 17th, '13, 13:04
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futurebird
Mar 17th, '13, 13:13
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Re: Blind water taste test. Tap water vs spring.
Why don't you taste the water directly? Both cold and heated. One water does not fit all tea.
Tasting water is a very important step in drinking tea though, so kudos for that.
Tasting water is a very important step in drinking tea though, so kudos for that.
Mar 17th, '13, 13:34
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Re: Blind water taste test. Tap water vs spring.
Oh taste the water ... WITHOUT TEA? *sigh* why didn't we think of that.
I'd love to know more about different kinds of water for different teas.
Though, the complexity of this information might make me mad.
I'd love to know more about different kinds of water for different teas.
Though, the complexity of this information might make me mad.
Last edited by futurebird on Mar 17th, '13, 13:35, edited 1 time in total.
Mar 17th, '13, 13:35
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Re: Blind water taste test. Tap water vs spring.
The tap water in my old place in western Mass. was better than most bottled "spring water" that I had. Boston's tap water is still ok, but not as good.
Resting water would definitely help a lot if you could taste chlorine from new tap water. But if you don't have chlorine problem, it would be interesting to see what you find out.
Resting water would definitely help a lot if you could taste chlorine from new tap water. But if you don't have chlorine problem, it would be interesting to see what you find out.
Re: Blind water taste test. Tap water vs spring.
NYC tap water is well known for being one of the best tasting tap waters in the world, also consistently beating out most bottled waters.futurebird wrote:it was NYC tap that won.
Re: Blind water taste test. Tap water vs spring.
Indeed, water great for one tea might not be great for another.the_economist wrote: One water does not fit all tea.