Is the Kind of Water You Use to Make Tea Important?

You bet it is!

I knew this already, but was once again reminded of it this past week. 

In one of my Specialty Tea Institute Level 4 classes that I took last year, we had the opportunity to compare different water types with varying mineral levels using the same tea.  We cupped (professionally tasted) one tea that was steeped in several different water types. 

Wow, what a difference it made. It is so easy to taste the difference when compared side-by-side. However, when you are at home and only making one pot or cup of tea at a time, it may not be so easy to detect.  

The tap water at my house is drinkable, but I do think it contains a lot of chlorine.  At home, I don't have a fancy water filter telling me at what level each mineral is in my water like we do for the Specialty Tea Institute classes.  I simply use the filtered water through my refrigerator to brew my tea.  I have found it does the trick and brews even my high end teas well!

In the morning, my husband usually makes the first pot of tea and he always uses the filtered water. 

However, my daughter has become quite the tea lover in recent years and she "steals" our tea.  So, a second pot of tea is needed for the morning.  I noticed when she would make the infusion from the same tea, it tasted different and not nearly as good.  I just thought she wasn't getting the amount of tea or the time down right. But, I was wrong. She was doing everything the same except she was using un-filtered water.

It made a huge difference in the taste! 

So, if you aren't using filtered or spring water for your tea, you really aren't getting the most out of it.  Try a side-by-side experiment of making one pot of tea with tap water and one with filtered/spring water. 

Did it make a difference?
Send a comment back and let me know the results!

Happy Sipping (with filtered water), Lisa