Water Gunge

For general/other topics related to tea.
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Nov 29th, '07, 17:55
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Water Gunge

by skywarrior » Nov 29th, '07, 17:55

I have well water. It goes through two filters before it comes out of the tap. It then goes through a Brita filter. Even so, I'm getting this white mineral stuff in my Utilitea that flakes off and is mostly strained when I pour the water from the Utilitea into my teapot.

What can I do besides buy bottled water? (not that bottled water is any better) It doesn't seem to affect the taste of the tea, but I still am not fond of looking at it.
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Nov 29th, '07, 18:10
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by Wesli » Nov 29th, '07, 18:10

I actually enjoy the stuff.

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Nov 29th, '07, 18:55
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by Ed » Nov 29th, '07, 18:55

LOL You are sick, Fatizzle. :P
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Nov 29th, '07, 19:44
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by Mary R » Nov 29th, '07, 19:44

Pour some white vinegar into your utilitea and swish it around (you can cut it with some water if you want, but the straight stuff won't hurt the machine). Watch the white cruddies dissolve before your very eyes! (Or speed it along with a little elbow grease.)

I wrote an article on filtering water awhile back ago on my blog. It might help you understand what's in the water that's making the scale.
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Nov 29th, '07, 19:48
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by scruffmcgruff » Nov 29th, '07, 19:48

Coincidentally, I happened to write an article of my own on the same topic, I think in the same week Mary wrote hers:

http://www.teanerd.com/2007/02/water-yo ... r-tea.html

Woo hoo self-promotion! :)
Tea Nerd - www.teanerd.com
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Nov 29th, '07, 21:27
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by Mary R » Nov 29th, '07, 21:27

Watch our Google PageRank soar!

Yeah, water week was one of the weird synergistic moments in tea history. :roll: I'd just begun drafting my post when I took a break, wandered to your site and saw...a water post. Le sigh. So I shifted focus a bit to water filtration, and the universal balance was restored.
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Nov 30th, '07, 01:37
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by skywarrior » Nov 30th, '07, 01:37

Nice articles -- that's for the heads up on that. I guess I'll be picking up some white vinegar and changing my Brita filter again! :roll:
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Nov 30th, '07, 02:14
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by bambooforest » Nov 30th, '07, 02:14

Sky, bare in mind, as far as I've researched, only reverse osmosis and distillation will minimize/completely remove minerals....

So, the mineral build up will continue to be a factor, even with excellent filtration.
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Nov 30th, '07, 02:47
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by skywarrior » Nov 30th, '07, 02:47

bambooforest wrote:Sky, bare in mind, as far as I've researched, only reverse osmosis and distillation will minimize/completely remove minerals....

So, the mineral build up will continue to be a factor, even with excellent filtration.
Yeah, I suspected so. But at least I can get rid of the gunge, even if it comes back.
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Nov 30th, '07, 08:37
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by tomasini » Nov 30th, '07, 08:37

i deal with the same thing sky, ever since i moved back to Texas my water boiler started getting white and flakey 0.0

but as already mentioned, a little vingegar goes along way...at least to cleaning it. As for preventing i couldn't say brotha man...But if you discover anything that works let us all know :lol:
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