Bottled Water for brewing?

[Kazeryu]

I just made a large purchase of teas and tea samplers, and I am wondering if it might be worth my while to try some bottled water when tasting some of the nicer teas. My samplers include a variety of white, yellow, and puerh teas.

Since I mostly drink tea at work, I just boil tap water in an electric kettle, brew in a glass teapot, and drink out of a large plastic-lined mug. Is changing my water going to make much of a difference for me? (I am presently in Calgary, which has some very hard tap water.) It may be worth noting that I use my own kettle and not some nasty communal one, and that I scrub my glass teapot at regular intervals to remove tea oil. As for water temperature I usually just let it boil thoroughly and then "eyeball" the temperature down to the range I want.



If bottled water would make a real difference, are there any particular brands of bottled water to avoid / prefer?

 

[nff]

dose your work have a water cooler? basically any bottled water is fine. something with about 150ppm or so is ideal but you know those water dispenser machines in grocery stores the "pure water" or whatever their called you can refil your 18L cooler jugs at thats all i use.

 

[The M]

bottled or even filtered tap water is better than straight tap water. I personally don't use filtered water but my tap water doesn't taste bad.(I prefer filtered water but I haven't gotten around to buying another filtering device). I Brew my Teas in a cast Iron pot (I have a real Japanese one and a Chinese one that is marketed like its Japanese but its not. However I use the Chinese one more due to the fact it was cheaper and the finish on the outside is more durable). I Drink out of a porcelain cup most of the time but I am loving my new glass tea cup which preforms beautifully with my green teas I have used it with.

 

[Kazeryu]

From the quantity of responses I am guessing that most people just use tap water?

 

[arghblech]

I prefer bottled but, too often, the hassle prevents tea drinking. I tend to use heavily filtered tap water at work that I leave out over night in an open container lightly covered with a paper towel.

 

[BigWill]

I'm a coffee drinker and not a tea drink, so YMMV on my opinion. I use filtered water for my coffee. My kitchen faucet has a seperate spigot for filtered water. The filter is a simple activated charcoal filter. I've used Brita pitchers in the past also. The filter removes the 'big chunks' that are inherent in city water. I don't believe activated charcoal will remove the chlorine or flouride either.

I can taste the difference between filtered water coffee and unfiltered. Unfiltered has a small, but distinct metallic aftertaste to me.

Again, YMMV.

 

[gearchow]

It just really depends on where you live and if you drink the tap water and like it straight out of the tap. In Santa Cruz, we used bottled water for everything except washing. Here in Portland, straight from the tap is a great experience. If it's good to drink, then it's good to brew with.

-jim

 

[GN?]

I use nothing but bottled water. I have well water it tastes great for drinking but it mutes my teas even filtered. So I get five gallon jugs of spring water. For good teas I use voss. I would use it more but I can't find it in larger containers it's to wasteful and expensive to buy the small ones.

 

[takeshi]

From the quantity of responses I am guessing that most people just use tap water?

It really depends on the tap water where you are and whether you're happy with it or not. Try it and see. Worth is always highly subjective no matter what the topic. Two different people comparing the same waters can have differing preferences. First hand experience is the best way to answer questions like this.

As for the quantity of responses, quantity generally doesn't mean anything on any discussion forum site.

 

[JPDyson]

Even if you like your water, give it a shot. Go for Spring Water (not filtered or purified). Make sure you enjoy the taste of the water before you put tea in it.

 

[Jasonian]

I generally use filtered, though I prefer spring. Straight tap only when in Memphis, TN. (or other places with equally delicious tap water, which is rare)

 

[Everett529]

I use bottled from the cooler at work, and it turns out good for coffee or tea. At home, I have very good tasting well water, that has an inline filter after the well pump. Comes clear out the tap, so I just use that at home.

 

[fchan]

Tap water is fine with me, but i guess it depends on the quality of your local tap water. Bottled should be fine as well but stay away from distilled. It will leave your tee/coffee tasting flat

 

[yakster]

For brewing coffee, tea, and espresso, I use water that I've treated with a ion exchange water softener cartridge and a filter cartridge to prevent problems with scale. I've heard that Volvic mineral water is recommended for brewing coffee, I believe it has a hardness of about 100 ppm.

If your water tastes good out of the tap, I say use it. The issue with hard water is that the minerals can make it more difficult to extract the coffee or tea. If you notice a lot of scale in your kettle, you may want to go with bottled.

At work, we have bottled water and reverse osmosis water which has a very low TDS (total dissolved solids) and I use that with a kettle when brewing coffee or tea at work.

 

[Jasonian]

I recommend Crystal Geyser or Arrowhead bottled water, if you have either of those available. Gold Cup Standard TDS in a bottle.

 

[JPDyson]

I generally use filtered, though I prefer spring. Straight tap only when in Memphis, TN. (or other places with equally delicious tap water, which is rare)

In hindsight, I shouldn't be so axiomatic about it. I guess filter tech has come a long way - but there's usually a distinct taste that "purified" water has to my buds that really turns me off. If I were going to the store to buy some water, however, I would definitely say go spring. Even Deer Park is going to be better than something like Aquafina.

 

[Deltaboy]

Filtered or bottled water makes better coffee.

 

[Kazeryu]

Tea order still hasn't arrived - lost in limbo. I may try some side-by-side comparisons once it does show up.