May 17, 2024
by Diana Rosen
"I bow before the pure-flowing channels of the Min." - Lu Yü (733-804)*
The pleasure and satisfaction of drinking a fine cup of tea depends on two ingredients: exceptional Masters Teas and pure fresh spring water.
While the ideal water source has been, for centuries, from one of the ten famous springs in China, that is obviously not possible for the majority of the world’s tea drinkers. What is possible is to source water from nearby springs, purchase glass-bottled waters from springs or to use water filters attached to your kitchen sink’s faucets. Another easy-to-use alternative is the pitcher with a carbon filter inside. (In Lu Yü’s time, filters of raw copper in frames were used to keep the water clean and pure!) The benefits of filtering water will not only make your teas taste better, but all the foods made with water (rice, pasta, soups, and stews.)
Which Water is Best for Tea?
Why is filtered or spring water so important? Besides the obvious clean, fresh taste, high quality waters contain magnesium and calcium that bring out the best flavor and fragrance profiles of the leaf, and unpleasant tasting waters often contain chlorine and contaminants that compromise the taste of the leaf.
So, what can we do when water is “off”? We can do what the premier tea sage, Lu Yü, advised: “During the first boil, add a measure of salt appropriate to the amount of water to harmonize the flavor.” He believed that salt would neutralize any flavors or aromas present in the water and allow the flavor of the tea to shine through. Himalayan salt, available at most grocery stores, is an ideal one to use.
“…the best spring water flows slowly over stone pools on a pristine mountainside.”*
Lu Yü also observed the big part that stones played in the purifying of water suitable for tea, not just in streams but by adding a maifan stone to your water source. These porous stones remove odors and flavors by adsorption which helps to eliminate heavy metals like mercury, lead, and cadmium while preserving calcium, magnesium, zinc, and potassium. (Maifan stone, also known as maifanite, is a natural ore found in East Asia.)
Tasting tea, one after another…
Between Heaven and Earth,
Is there anything more enjoyable?
-Wang Fuli, (1651-1720) poet of the Qing Dynasty
Well water makes a fine cup of tea. The only concern is its pH level which should be no higher than 7. If the pH is above 8.5, the water will be too hard, and the tea will be unpleasantly bitter. If filtering the well water does not work, please consider bottled purified or spring water instead. Other waters that may make tea taste bitter are alkaline and mineral waters. And, distilled water will create a tea that is flat and dull. If, however, you like distilled over spring water or your city’s unfiltered tap water is excellent, use that, because, as always, you are the final arbiter of what tastes good to you.
"Sip your tea as if it were life itself." - Lu Yü
Heating Water for Tea
In some Chinese tea circles, the teapot is considered the Father of Tea, Water is the Mother, and charcoal is the Friend of Tea as it was the favored water heating source because it did not draw as much smoke as wood or coal did. Heating methods were either civil fire, which heats liquids or foods slowly or martial fire, which heats them quickly (and best fire for heating water for tea.)
Paying attention to the kettle teaches us when the water is ready for the type of tea we want to drink, especially when we do not have a temperature-controlled kettle.
What should we look for?
Bubbles, and their size! Lu Yü describes them poetically as fish eyes with a hint of sound; pearls strung together chattering in a brook in springtime, and breakers leaping like the sound of crashing waves. Whites, yellows, and greens use the smallest bubbles, oolongs, medium ones, and large for blacks. A roiling boiling can be used for puerhs.
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
-William Cowper (1731-1800) English poet
Whether tea sage or poet or mere mortal, selecting the highest-quality of water is a worthy effort to bring out every nuance of flavor and fragrance in the finest of teas. Explore your water choices to determine how they enhance flavor and fragrance of the leaf and the spirit of tea drinking. Choose what tastes best to you. As another wise sage posited, “Let your palate be your guide.” (Confucius).
Use as appropriate
To boil the water at the exact temperature needed for the tea you choose, consider an appliance like our
Smart Electric Kettle for fast, accurate temperatures.
Adagio’s
GraviTEA is an exceptional water purifier pitcher that’s cost effective, easy to use, and can filter out up to 80% of chlorine and 70% limescale from tap water in seconds.
* Lu Yü quotes from “The Classic of Tea, Origins & Rituals” translated by Francis Ross Carpenter, 1974, The Ecco Press
