It was a long road for me with countless experiments to find the best possible water (in my opinion). I even wrote an article about my experiences on my teablog some years ago. Since that time a lot has changed. I tasted so many different bottled waters, filtered water etc. and in the end only two bottled waters really passed the test.
Like mentioned before so many things are important to create the best tea environment for your tea session. Even a different place but with the same teawares, tea and water could drastically change the taste of the tea. Before I start to get deeper into the mater of water here is my list of the perfect conditions drinking your tea with 100% satisfaction
1. Good source of Water
A historical quote from the Ming dynasty called "Written conversation of Plum Blossom Herbal Hall" once said
"The inherent quality of tea must be expressed in water. When a tea that is an eight meets with water that is a ten, the tea is also a ten! When water that is an eight pairs with a tea that is a ten then the tea is just an eight." Of course this isn't working if the tea is pure garbage and the water is a ten but I totally get what they meant. In another document from the Qing dynasty Zhang Dafu said
"If you take the percentage on what creates a good tea it might be 80% water and 20% tea" - which means 20% good tea!
2. Good quality of tea
What else if left to say. Bad cheap tea creates a pale and dull tea experience. It is always important to buy from a good and trustfully source.
3. The right type of teaware
(if you aren't that much into teaware porcelain is a good allrounder) But also the water boiler needs to be the right stuff. If there is a lot of plastic involved it also drastically changes the taste and scent of tea.
4. Clean tasting and scenting buds
(If you are sick = it makes no sense/If you were sick = wait until there is noting which might block you nose / And also take care to drink tea without eating anything side by side because in that case you're not able to get out the full potential of the tea because other spices etc are definitely overshadow the whole experience - and if you eat something before take care that it wasn't to spicy because this also transforms into a false outcome)
5. Daily condition/mood and Location
(Which means: Even healthy one and the same tea could taste totally different if you your stressed for example. That's why it is important to always find a good amount of time to enjoy your tea with any stress on your thoughts or a time limit where you need to be finished. Also other circumstances good effect the taste of the tea. Location:
"Tea taste best at home" - at least in my opinion that's the case. Even at my parents farm tea tastes totally different even if I got everything I need [Water, Tea and teaware] ~ you need to have the right mood and place for a good cup of tea.
6. Tea storage
(Even the best tea stored wrong on a longer term is creating a bad tea experience. Avoiding other odors is the key and in most cases an airtight sealed way of storage is the other one.)
7. Knowledge
(Because even if the Water, the tea and the teaware is perfect if you overbrew the tea, use to much or to less tea leaves or steep it to hot it drastically could change anything! Know what you're doing and do it with dedication and care)
Ok that's the major key notes I would say and now let's talk about the WATER!
I am from Vienna and even your water comes from the mountains it sucks! It is one of the best within Europe and it is totally OK just drinking it as a refreshment cold and from the pipe and also use it for daily herbal teas (if you're are sick or just want to drink anything aside just water) BUT for good tea!? Forget it!
In my early "Tea days" I believed it might be good water but after a year of drinking and exploring Japanese green tea on a daily basis I experienced a big change "Volvic" - going further from this point I believed this might be the holy grail but even Volvic isn't the best. Volvic is really nice when it comes to green teas and similar teas with a much greener background but other teas especially richer ones might not 100% welcome Volvic. But volvic is better than any filtered water or even our tab water.
Talking about filtered water or as I call it "the devil" - this was the most major disappointment within my water search. I tried Brita and even an expensive machine they used at a friend hipster coffee shop. Both turned out the be more or less the same. So what is wrong with Brita? I have very sensitive tasting and scenting buds. Within a tea I can filter out at least 8-15 different nuances. In most cases the major ones are 4-6 the rest are the fine and special once which creates the uniqueness within each and every tea. So what's wrong with Brita? I did side by side tastings and the result was terrifying. Brita nearly kills all the fine and special notes and highlights only the 4-6 major ones. And this was a 100% no go for me.
So what is good bottled water? Definitely a term of personal taste but as I am here to share my experience I can tell you this ~ if you are able to get Lauretana - BUY IT!
This is one of the lightest water out there and very soft. I never ever found a better water than Lauretana. It is from Italy and sold in some of the Supermarkets here in my town. I only use this water to drink all my teas. I never had a bad experience with any tea and Lauretana.
Before I found this one I tried a lot. There are some others which quite meet up at the same level as Lauretana but either they were to expansive or hard to get.
Plose another Italian water also really brings out very good results. But beside Lauretana my second water hero is "icelandic glacial" water - this water might even be a bit better than Lauretana but it is very hard to get and only in small bottles (here in Vienna) and quite expansive!
Will experiment with more of the top Chinese brands when I'm in Fujian next month.
