How Important Is It to Use Filtered Water to Make Tea?

Who doesn’t love to have a fresh cup of tea on their first moment of the day?

Sitting in bed, having a cup of tea, feels like all our stress and sadness going away! Well, you will hardly love that tea when it is not your perfect one.

You will definitely want to master the art of making that perfect cup of tea.

For preparing  tasty and healthy tea, you will surely need pure water.

Among all kinds of beverages, tea is the most everlasting one for many years.

Whenever we feel anxiety, a good cup of tea can make it all go away with the blink of an eye. Tea also contains antioxidants that help protect our cells from disease, including reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Moreover, we have all seen the rise of many types of herbal teas which contains zero caffeine.

But have we ever thought how this tea tastes so different from place to place, and even person to person?

According to Lu Yu, a scholar from the eighth century Tang Dynasty China, the best water for brewing tea came from the center of a swiftly moving mountain streams.

It is a clear indication of having tea with water from the clearest source. As almost none of us has access to mountain streams nowadays, we need to consider other options.

We need to focus on three major factors before picking the water for preparing tea: the pH (power of Hydrogen) level, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and hardness of the water.

There is a range for the pH scale (1 to 14) that indicates acidity or alkalinity (basicness) of the water. The best option for water is being neutral with a pH of 7. But water with slightly acidic (pH of close to 6) or slightly alkaline (pH of close to 8) is also acceptable.

TDS is the measurement of both the total amount of minerals present in water and the amounts of metals, salts, or any other impurities that may have been dissolved. TDS is counted either in ppm (parts per million) or in grains where 17 ppm is equivalent to 1 grain approximately.

​TDS is the most popular metric for deciding which kind of water to choose for brewing tea.

However, if we cannot know which substances dissolved in the water are making up the TDS in the water, this process is not be relied upon fully.

Water wizard David Beeman, of GC Water, has formulated water for a huge amount of large and small businesses and formed water guidelines for the Tea Association of the USA.

He recommends 150 ppm or 9 grains as the ideal amount of TDS in water for making tea, which is run through the reverse osmosis filtration system and later mixed with calcium, potassium, and sodium to meet the TDS requirements.

As a result, this water will now taste cleaner, fresher and more flavorful because it will become more like naturally soft water.

If you are running a business of serving tea, the best long-term solution will be to send your water sample to a filtration company, which may recommend a filtration system for your particular water after testing the sample for free.

If the TDS and water hardness are not optimal in an area, a reformulation unit will be essential for that particular area.

Another solution for such problems is to use bottled mineral water service which should satisfy the requirements described so far. In some regions of the world, like New York, even tap water serves well enough for brewing the best cup of tea as the tap water there is one of the best in the country.

But mostly we have to use filtered water to ensure having a healthy and tasty tea.

Having at least one cup of tea every day is a habit most of us have for a long time and we have to admit that taking a good cup of tea always makes us free of all anxiety and stress.

So, to get the most out of this sweet little habit, we have to ensure that we use filtered water for the best possible healthy and tasty cup of tea always.

Brew, drink and enjoy!