Water is the mother of tea
Ninety-nine percent of your cup is water. A few easy changes that make more difference than a better tea.
· 4 min read
A Ming dynasty writer put it plainly: “Tea’s nature is revealed through water. An eight-point tea in ten-point water becomes a ten-point tea; ten-point tea in eight-point water is only eight.” He was right, and it costs very little to act on.
Soft, but not empty
Hard tap water mutes aroma and leaves a film on the cup; distilled water tastes flat because there’s nothing to carry the flavour. What you want is soft water with a little mineral content. A simple carbon filter jug fixes most tap water. Low-mineral bottled spring water is better still for a special tea.
Fresh, and boiled once
- Fill the kettle fresh each session. Water boiled again and again goes flat.
- Bring it just to a rolling boil, then cool it to the temperature the tea wants. For oolong and pu’er that means hardly at all.
- Pour from a little height for dense teas, gently down the side for delicate ones.
Try one tea with two waters, side by side. You won’t need convincing.
Temperatures for every kind of tea are in our gongfu brewing guide.
