T Ching and Water Preparation

I recently stumbled across the first "teaworthy" site to deserve a place under my "links". T Ching is a tea blog/tea store/tea company maintained by multiple people who know what they're talking about, or at least look like they do. Browsing their posts is a pleasure, and motivates me to put at least some thought and effort into my work here.

Browsing their store, on the other hand, brings out the worst of my greediness. Would someone like to give me money for teas and tea accessories? I am in love!

I can't remember how I found their site, but the post that originally came up in my search was about Water Preparation for the perfect cup of tea.

I have told you before that I am not very deserving of the title "tea snob", and here I must confess that I thought the snobbiest tea snob would insist on filtered water, and nothing snobbier. How wrong I was! It's always somewhat freeing to learn something new - while humbling and sometimes embarrassing, it reminds me that I'm human and brings me down from any pedestals I had climbed onto.

The author of the post, Aaron, starts out by mentioning the two most obvious mistakes in tea water preparation, and they are both mistakes I make. I have admitted to you before that I do them for the sake of time, but now I feel ashamed:

"I have myself ruined countless teas, and been to so many tea shops and tea houses here in Asia where nice tea was ruined by either poor quality water or cheap, electric kettles."

Me and my tap hard water! And my Target electric kettle I was so proud of, that heats the water so quickly! I feel very un-tea!

"It is important to remember that even good quality mountain spring water will be influenced by the vessel used to heat it. Also, there is tremendous variation in the quality of heat sources available, from electric induction plates to oil or even charcoal. I have elsewhere gone through the different kinds of kettles in detail..."

Can you believe I've never seriously thought about these things? Sure, I can see starting with purified, distilled, or filtered water - but metal or plastic - I have never thought of this! Heat sources? I never thought it made a difference - true, I would only microwave tea water if there were no other options available, but oil? Charcoal? And different kinds of kettles - wow. (I looked for the "different kinds of kettles" post for a bit and couldn't find it - I'll let you know when I do!)

Aaron goes on to talk about various heat methods, including different types of charcoal, but stresses that the water needs to be heated quickly, however it is heated.

Here was one of the most fascinating pieces of the post, though:

"Some tea masters and I experimented in several ways when I first got the [silver] kettle. First we drank water from several kettles including glass, clay, etc. and found the silver induced water to be sweeter, softer and taste cleaner. We then had a session with a tea that is well known to all of us and found that the same tea was twice as good when brewed with this purified water. Also, we found that teas brewed with water from the silver teapot were more “patient” as the Chinese say, yielding almost twice as many steepings. I have even repeated these experiments using only water and people who don’t drink tea, with the same results. Even my elderly tai chi teacher could choose which cup had the water from the silver pot every single time, closing his eyes as we mixed them up. "

I want to say "I am now going to buy a silver pot", but I feel very low on the tea snob totem pole right now and I think I should make more of an effort to educate myself before I splurge on a big tea purchase. I am going to order a sampler of tea from this company and experiment with it. The items in their shop are relatively inexpensive, and you know that these people know tea. I emailed them for some details on a sampler and they responded right away.

I am planning on buying a faucet Brita filter. That's a step in the right direction, right? I don't like drinking my hard water very much anyway, and it leaves scum inside my tea kettle that can only be removed with multiple soakings in bleach. I know hard water is supposedly not unhealthy and mine doesn't taste unpleasant. I just want filtered water!

Before I buy a Brita faucet filter, please let me know if you have any recommendations for faucet water filters, or if you are a true tea snob who has experimented with different waters for teas, tell me what works for you!

If you see any more teaworthy sites, let me know! I think my IQ goes up a point for every hour I spent on a teaworthy site! Or at least my snobbiness.