Water filters

[trallis]

I find it hard to believe that this has never been discussed here, but I did try searching and I can't find anything.. so here it is

Does anyone use water filters like pur or brita pitchers? Do they improve the taste of the water significantly?

I ask for a few reasons. I'm poor and don't like buying spring water, and theres been so much speculation recently about the dangers of drinking from plastic bottles.

I'm hoping someone will tell me that filtered water is good for making tea so I can put it on my christmas list. I have good parents so around xmas time is the only chance I have to get lots of awesome stuff

[stanthegoomba]

My cheap little Brita works well and makes a noticeable difference to the taste of tea. It really does get rid of the chlorine heaviness and odour. Still, my tap water is decent enough to drink and use for tea in a pinch even unfiltered. I think the effectiveness of a Brita depends on how far gone your tap water is.

[trallis]

oh thats good. my tap water here in providence is relatively neutral tasting.. it just has a hint of not so fresh taste to it. so it sounds like a filter would work well for me

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

Well...I can shed some light on a fair amount of your questions....1)As far as chemicals in plastic bottles: The main chemical they are referring to is known as Bisphenol-A (BPA) and has been found to leech out in all types of plastic bottles. From my experience, the main leeching of the BPA come if the water bottle is re-used over and over and has continuous exposure to oxygen...so if you bought bottled water you should still be fine. 2)About chlorine taste in tapwater: Pour about a gallon of your tapwater into a clean (food grade) bucket and let it sit out for about an hour....most of the chlorine will escape as a gas. 3)Brita water filters: work great, if you do what I said about leaving it out for about an hour before you pour it through the brita filter, it will work wonders and taste much better than if you went straight from your tap right into the brita. I hope this helps!

-Nick (TaiPing)

[scruffmcgruff]

Brita filters are great at making crappy-tasting water taste better. It worked wonders when I was living in an old dorm building (in a city that already has bad-tasting water to boot). That said, if you can't taste the difference between filtered water and tap water by itself, you probably won't notice much difference when the two are used to make tea. Hope that makes sense!

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Brita works greats for the water from my college dorm. The unfiltered water here tastes bad when I don't filter it and scales up my electric kettle rather terribly, but it is fine when I do filter it. A filter system is definitely worth it if you can taste the difference before and after. I got my Brita for $9.99 at the local grocery store. It filters 5 cups at a time and is small enough to not take up too much room on my desk with the rest of the my tea stuff.

[Space Samurai]

I like brita. I have a large one with a spigot that filters about a gallon or so at a time. It definitely makes a difference and I never run out.

[Chip]

There are many discussions on water and filters on this forum. Did you try searching using the advanced search icon in the upper left below the name TeaChat?

[Trioxin]

I use an under the sink filter that attaches to the cold water line. Think it ran around $40. Easy as hell to hook up and made a dramatic improvement to my water. Plus no pitchers taking up precious space.

[Vulture]

Even though I have a brita filter at home, I am a lazy bastard and just use tap water. The only thing I have to complain is the higher amount of chlorine but I don't taste it anymore. (mouth adjusted to the taste?)

[wyardley]

I use one of those on-tap Pur 3-stage filters at home for drinking water. I use either that or Crystal Geyser brand bottled spring water for making tea at home, depending on what's available (sometimes a mix of the two). I haven't done extensive comparisons, but anecdotally, some teas seem to do better with one than the other (and it's not always the same one). I usually keep some activated charcoal in my electric kettle too. Same deal at work, only the filtered water there is not so great, so I stick to spring water when I have it.

btw, Tim and the Tea Gallery folks actually gave Brita filtered water pretty good marks:
http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/200 ... water.html

[odarwin]

with good reviews on britta filters, i plan to buy one for the office,
but i do have a few concerns...

as far as i know, britta filters contain coconut charcoal, and when water passes through, it will leave the filter part wet, and after leaving the britta filter overnight, wont it run the risk of developing micro-organisms of some sort? what should i do here? also, over weekends, wont i be shocked to discover molds or some bad organisms developing over the weekend? thanks!

-darwin

[Vulture]

with good reviews on britta filters, i plan to buy one for the office,
but i do have a few concerns...

as far as i know, britta filters contain coconut charcoal, and when water passes through, it will leave the filter part wet, and after leaving the britta filter overnight, wont it run the risk of developing micro-organisms of some sort? what should i do here? also, over weekends, wont i be shocked to discover molds or some bad organisms developing over the weekend? thanks!

-darwin

darwin I have a brita filter, you actually need to soak it for a few hours before even using it. I believe this is done because they retain water for hours like sponges. If you use the pitcher version and keep it full most the time it isn't a problem. Only time i had a problem was when my roommate used the pitcher for something other than water.

[gingkoseto]

I use brita for cold water. When I boil water, I am too lazy to brita it, and will just boil tap water. My tap water is of mineral spring water quality so it's not a concern.

I am poor too and my poor mind just can't accept the idea of putting water in bottles and sell it for high price. And my lazy mind can't accept carrying all the water from supermarket to home.

[gingkoseto]

As far as chemicals in plastic bottles: The main chemical they are referring to is known as Bisphenol-A (BPA) and has been found to leech out in all types of plastic bottles. From my experience, the main leeching of the BPA come if the water bottle is re-used over and over and has continuous exposure to oxygen...so if you bought bottled water you should still be fine.
-Nick (TaiPing)

Oh, this sounds a little scary. I re-used every single plastic bottle, from bottled water or coke Do the polycarbon plastic bottles (like the outdoor types) also release BPA? I have a few at home, but I tend to leave my water bottle randomly in a place and lose it. So now I only used bottled-water or coke bottle to carry water with me. But then with the BPA thing, should I switch back to polycarbon permanent bottles or should get a steel one?