Bamboo Charcoal

[tenuki]

Knowledge can get in the way of truth...

[cyberhoofer]

Don't shoot the messenger. You asked for bamboo activated carbon for water filtration; this is what Gordon supplied.

I certainly did not. Please re-read the starter / initial message of this thread.

[cyberhoofer]

Knowledge can get in the way of truth...

If knowledge gets between my stainless wire mesh filter & the leaves? -then how am I to brew any further? Perhaps with a bamboo one.

Cheers to you all, it's been very informative - chemistry, physics & all...

[ABx]

Bamboo charcoal can help a bit, but I've found that aquarium charcoal works even better (it's just best to get the good quality stuff, and always rinse all the dust out before using the first time).

There have been a lot of intense discussions about charcoal in the aquarium communities, and it does not leech minerals or soften water. If charcoal did that, it would not be suitable for a lot of aquariums (or at the very least it would require a lot more care) and it would solve a lot of problems for people with water that's too hard (the ion exchange resin in Brita filters can drop water pH by as much as .1, but that's not charcoal). Ultimately charcoal is charcoal - unless it's not completely burnt, it's just going to be carbon in the shape of what it used to be. Activated charcoal just has more surface area for adsorbtion.

[cyberhoofer]

Bamboo charcoal can help a bit, but I've found that aquarium charcoal works even better (it's just best to get the good quality stuff, and always rinse all the dust out before using the first time).

There have been a lot of intense discussions about charcoal in the aquarium communities, and it does not leech minerals or soften water. If charcoal did that, it would not be suitable for a lot of aquariums (or at the very least it would require a lot more care) and it would solve a lot of problems for people with water that's too hard (the ion exchange resin in Brita filters can drop water pH by as much as .1, but that's not charcoal). Ultimately charcoal is charcoal - unless it's not completely burnt, it's just going to be carbon in the shape of what it used to be. Activated charcoal just has more surface area for adsorbtion.

quite right, or not. I just love what it does to my tea, slight wonders & i don't have a cleft palate. to each his own...

[ABx]

quite right, or not. I just love what it does to my tea, slight wonders & i don't have a cleft palate. to each his own...

At this point you're not really making sense.

Cyberhoofer, I think you're taking things a little too personally - nobody has said not to use it. There are, however, a lot of myths and lies in the world of tea. Many are things carried over from traditions from before modern times, and many of those used to separate you from your money. If you prefer to use bamboo charcoal, for whatever reason, then more power to you. But you should be aware of what you're doing, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to spread misinformation knowing the truth of the matter, right?

[Herb_Master]

Whatever it does or does not do - I am going to try it

not least because for 18 months now since reading the article by Taiwan TeaGuy, I have wanted to see if it really will take all the Chlorine and Fluorine out of my otherwise excellent tap water.

http://www.taiwanteaguy.com/2009/02/19/bamboo-charcoal/

[Intuit]

Herb, it will remove chlorine, although the dechlorination performance of bamboo activated depends on it's processing. Activated charcoal doesn't bind excess fluoride very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon.

"The finer the particle size of an activated carbon, the better the access to the surface area and the faster the rate of adsorption kinetics."

Abx is correct. You can buy food-grade GAC by the bag; the smallest quantity I could find was 10 lb aliquots. The aquarium (animal) grade stuff is high quality too, and it's going to be easier to buy locally at aquarium fish hobby shops than the food-grade GAC, which can be purchased online from commercial air/water purification suppliers.

[Smells_Familiar]

i've recently experimented a bit with some bamboo charcoal that stephane gifted me like a year ago.

after scrubbing the piece off under running water, i boiled it in my kettle for a bit. dumped the first kettle's worth of water out and boiled some more with the new charcoal. i brewed some cheap but decent dancong with this water and i was AMAZED with the resulting brew! it's hard for me to describe the resulting changes in flavor, but i can say the dancong tasted more "organic" and kinda wild. it was great. next, i put the charcoal in a half gallon glass jar filled with water and let it rest for three days. i took the charcoal out and heated this water in my kettle without any charcoal. using this water to brew the same dancong, the resulting brew tasted pretty much the same as when i use just plain water without the addition of charcoal in the process.

next, i tried water that had been boiled with charcoal to brew a li shan. i really didn't like what the bamboo did to this tea.
it gave the same organic/wild qualities to the delicate oolong as it had to the dancong. good for the dancong, bad for the high mountain oolong. i imagine yancha and puerh would really benefit from bamboo charcoal, while sencha may not. the jury is still out though...here's to experimentation!

edit: i want to note that i was using straight reverse osmosis water for the above experiments. i think this shows that the bamboo charcoal is definitely adding something to the water, especially when boiled.

[Tead Off]

The bamboo charcoal that I use is from Japan. It says to activate, rinse it in cold water then boil for 10 minutes. Allow it to cool, then place it in a pitcher. Since my Brita is see-through, I placed it on the bottom and filled the pitcher. You could see the bubbles coming out of the charcoal for quite awhile and the taste of the water was much better with it. They also recommended to reactivate the charcoal every 3 months or so by placing it in the sun to dry for some hours. They say it is reuseable for a year or so. Whatever the technical goings on are, it definitely takes or gives something to the water by just lying on the bottom of the Brita.

In Thailand, there is a company that produces it in special ovens. They sell it for about $10 a kilo. I believe the bamboo is high quality.

[tenuki]

I've observed the difference in several blind taste tests so I keep a fresh (change monthly) stick of bamboo charcoal in my kettle. Even if I decided it made no difference I would keep it there - i've grown quite attatched to the pleasant rattling sound it makes when it comes to a boil.

[Intuit]

Putting charcoal in your kettle would make a difference: thermal energy drives reactions, including internal surface wetting, which aids water penetration into large charcoal pieces. Major difference in mixing dynamics in a boiling kettle versus quiescent filter carafe.

Maybe larger charcoal chips or pellets are a suitable function/size tradeoff for use in a kettle.

Interesting earlier comment about some teas not being improved by charcoal filtered water.

[tenuki]

Putting charcoal in your kettle would make a difference: thermal energy drives reactions, including internal surface wetting, which aids water penetration into large charcoal pieces. Major difference in mixing dynamics in a boiling kettle versus quiescent filter carafe.

Maybe larger charcoal chips or pellets are a suitable function/size tradeoff for use in a kettle.

Interesting earlier comment about some teas not being improved by charcoal filtered water.

I prefer to simply know it tastes better from experience and enjoy my tea, thank you...

Knowing facts isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

[Smells_Familiar]

Knowing facts isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

you seem to be on a roll. would you elaborate if it's not too far off topic?

[cyberhoofer]

quite right, or not. I just love what it does to my tea, slight wonders & i don't have a cleft palate. to each his own...

At this point you're not really making sense.

Cyberhoofer, I think you're taking things a little too personally - nobody has said not to use it. There are, however, a lot of myths and lies in the world of tea. Many are things carried over from traditions from before modern times, and many of those used to separate you from your money. If you prefer to use bamboo charcoal, for whatever reason, then more power to you. But you should be aware of what you're doing, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to spread misinformation knowing the truth of the matter, right?

I only started this thread to 'announce' that Gordon has bamboo charcoal in his selection, thats all. And I never mentioned anything about charcoal being activated or not.