Just curious where everyone else sources their good quality water from for tea brewing.
I've seen vids of Chinese and Japanese tea brewing that claim water from certain rivers, springs, or mountains brew better tea. However, when trying to find this water to purchase nobody has it. I don't know if Japan and China are not allowed to export their water or what.
I've been using a "New Wave" 10-stage filter on my tap water for several months now and it's a huge improvement over Brita and PUR filtering. I got the 10 stage filter because a reverse osmosis system requires drilling holes into the sink and I rent here so I can't legally drill holes into the sink since I don't own the sink. So this filter seems to be the next best thing. However, I think it filters out minerals and nutrients. It claims it doesn't, but I can't imagine it not filtering them out since there's so many stages of filtration.
I thought about getting a Zen water filter to filter the filtered water because Zen apparently adds minerals back into the water and makes it more like spring water. I would of course remove the ceramic filter that it comes with since it wouldn't be needed. It's the other 5-6 stages of filtering media that I want.
There's also mineral rocks I could add to water storage bins I could keep near my tea area that will add minerals back to the water over time.
I also thought about buying quality bottled water, but I go through tons of water per day. Like 3 gallons a day, so bottled water would be a bad, wasteful, and expensive way to go.
Any thoughts?
Re: Sourcing good water?
Some thoughts:
- Outside of the tea world, few people nit-pick about such matters
I doubt there'd be any legal issues with exporting water, just demand issues. Supply's clearly not a problem.
- In areas where the water's clean enough to drink unfiltered, the communities tend to be a little smaller and less…"in touch"? with the world outside of their surroundings. I say this because there really aren't many highly modernised areas in the world with water so pure that it doesn't need to be filtered before drinking. E.g. Some parents in Beijing have air filters in every room of the house and don't take their children out for walks unless the pollution index reads below a certain level, so imagine what drinking unfiltered water there would be like.
- Where are you finding these claims, and are they all written by one person? Many factors affect these claims. For example, brewing tea in a quiet garden, away from noises like cars, with natural running water is going to make you feel differently about the taste than brewing it in an air-conditioned room to the sound of ambulances speeding past. There's also pride in one's homeland — not just the country, but the specific area itself.
- Outside of the tea world, few people nit-pick about such matters
I doubt there'd be any legal issues with exporting water, just demand issues. Supply's clearly not a problem.- In areas where the water's clean enough to drink unfiltered, the communities tend to be a little smaller and less…"in touch"? with the world outside of their surroundings. I say this because there really aren't many highly modernised areas in the world with water so pure that it doesn't need to be filtered before drinking. E.g. Some parents in Beijing have air filters in every room of the house and don't take their children out for walks unless the pollution index reads below a certain level, so imagine what drinking unfiltered water there would be like.
- Where are you finding these claims, and are they all written by one person? Many factors affect these claims. For example, brewing tea in a quiet garden, away from noises like cars, with natural running water is going to make you feel differently about the taste than brewing it in an air-conditioned room to the sound of ambulances speeding past. There's also pride in one's homeland — not just the country, but the specific area itself.
Re: Sourcing good water?
Actually, people are particular about water in all kinds of arenas, be it aquaculture, chemistry, gardening, homebrewing or whiskey appreciation.
HK water is clean enough to drink unfiltered, although some might argue that a large portion of the population are 'less in touch with the world outside their surroundings.'
Both environment and water quality affect your tea. Try a test--brew tea with distilled water and tap water and let someone walk in and try both, and see which they prefer.
HK water is clean enough to drink unfiltered, although some might argue that a large portion of the population are 'less in touch with the world outside their surroundings.'
Both environment and water quality affect your tea. Try a test--brew tea with distilled water and tap water and let someone walk in and try both, and see which they prefer.