Bamboo Charcoal

[Geekgirl]

I've read a bit about using this in the kettle (boiling.) Now, granted, I have very good, soft, sweet water at home, even before standard filtration, but at work... yuck. Even with filtration it tastes... odd.

Does anyone use bamboo charcoal in a zoji or in a utilitea? I don't have the set-up at work for stove-top boiling or a kettle, so this might be my best option. But I've never seen anyone mention using it in their electric kettles or vacuum pots.

Ideas? suggestions?

[Victoria]

Me, I use it in the utiliTea.
I have a piece in there and just leave it.
I replace it about once a month.

[tenuki]

what Vic said.

[ABx]

I found that pelletized aquarium charcoal works a lot better, and is certainly cheaper. You just want to make sure to get the stuff in pellets and not the cheap stuff in chips - the latter turns to mush and are filled with dust. Just make sure to rinse them out first, because any of them will have a certain amount of dust. It's the same stuff, just in a different shape. The aquarium carbon does offer a whole lot more surface area, though, so it picks up a lot more. You can get aquarium carbon pre-packed in it's own pouch, get your own, or improvise. I used one of those big fill-your-own teabags; it split after a while but that doesn't really bother me since it's in a Zoji. If you're using a regular kettle you might want to figure out something else.

[Pentox]

Does it make that notable of a difference?

[ABx]

If the water is already filtered then it would likely pull out any weird smells and extra chlorine, which could improve things noticeably (depending). Charcoal in any form isn't going to make the water harder or softer, though, unless the minerals are in a particulate form big enough to get mechanically caught up in the carbon structure.

[tenuki]

Does it make that notable of a difference?

My blind taste tests say yes. I've done blind taste tests 3 times with 100% results each time. It's not even hard to tell really. Your mileage my vary due to your taste buds, your local water, your charcoal source, etc. Seattle water is very very good, but very soft, so the charcoal ads a very pleasant sweetness and body to the water for about a month, then I change to a new peice. Most noticeable brewing green oolongs like the gao shans or baozhong.


btw, I bought a unlined iron testusbin for mineralization purposes too but the taste it ads is actually too strong for me, so it goes unused unless I'm doing Japanese greens.

[Victoria]

btw, I bought a unlined iron testusbin for mineralization purposes too but the taste it ads is actually too strong for me, so it goes unused unless I'm doing Japanese greens.

Interesting. Good thing it was iron, what if you didn't like the taste from a $1k + silver one. Yikes.

I'm not one for a strong mineral taste even plain water.

[Oni]

I read somewhere that there are stones that add taste to the water, so that it brings more taste out of my oolongs, somebody tell me where I can buy bamboo charcoal and some of these magic chinese stones.

[beachape]

Are there any good places to buy bamboo charcoal online?

Thanks.

[bi lew chun]

Tea Masters usually includes a couple pieces of bamboo charcoal with your order, and also sells it separately. See this post. Price from the June '08 list was $1.65 per piece.

[wyardley]

Red Circle sells it, but it's expensive.

If you have a Japanese 99 cent store nearby, you can get it there pretty cheaply.

[tenuki]

currently the best place I could find to get it online is here.