RO Water?
magicleaf
as I dont know the answer or know what he refers to as RO water
Thanks
Maurice
Q:
The teas I enjoy best is when brewed with soft water.
I tried distiled, bottled, etc. but find myself to get back to using
softened water.
At least I found this the best for the Earl Gray types.
Having tried this on much advice from other ' tea gurus', upon using
R.O water, I can not bring the flavor up to the above, no matter how
long I steep it, having used from barely boiling point to well
boiled . The brewed tea remain looking AND tasting weak.
To my taste, RO water used for tea gives the brewed tea much unwanted
' side taste'.
Are there other tea connoisseurs out there who know RO water to be
best for brewing tea ? ?.
Mike Petro
Absolutely the worst choice for tea in my opinion. The mineral content
of water greatly affects the flavor of the brew. IMHO you want at
least some mineral content to give the water body and flavor. RO has
zero mineral content, and is generally not good for any beverage, it
will render a very "flat" brew.
Space Cowboy
content from water.
Jim
Araxen
It also makes the water a neutral ph too. It's used alot in the Salwater
Aquarium hobby/trade.
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magicleaf
Scott Dorsey
>I have a question been forwarded to me , can some one please advise me
>as I dont know the answer or know what he refers to as RO water
RO is Reverse Osmosis. It's a process that takes all of the minerals out
of water.
And yes, it makes tea taste much flatter. I don't know why, but when I
had distilled and RO water available for film processing, I tried it for
tea and it was definitely detrimental.
If all you have available is RO water (for example, on board a ship),
adding Burton's Water Salts to the water may help. I'd sooner just take
some Vichy water along, though, and dilute the process water with that.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
DogMa
> The teas I enjoy best is when brewed with soft water.
> I tried distiled, bottled, etc. but find myself to get back to using
> softened water.
> To my taste, RO water used for tea gives the brewed tea much unwanted
> 'side taste'.
I wonder if we could get a little clarification. The original questioner
seems to be saying that s/he likes "softened" water, and has bad
results with RO. While RO (like two-step ion exchange) does soften
water, for many people the term "softening" is used in reference to a
process of displacement (rather than removal). In this much cheaper
approach, sodium (from salt) replaces calcium and magnesium ions. Much
cheaper, and eliminates soap scum and hard-water scale pretty well. Also
adds a lot of salt, which would naturally enhance certain flavors.
Perhaps the questioner would like to try adding a pinch of salt to RO water?
As to "unwanted taste": it's not clear whether this "side-taste" is an
actual new flavor note, or a change in balance/intensity of the existing
profile. Hard to see whence a new flavor might arise, unless the
purification system is contaminated.
-DM
Bluesea
"magicleaf" <mau...@levy.ws> wrote in message
news:1174498397.6...@b75g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Many people don't like Reverse Osmosis or distilled water for tea.
I prefer distilled because it results in a pure, clean- and fresh-tasting
brew while regular tap or bottled waters makes my teas taste murky.
There's no right or wrong, best or worst, just pros and cons, advantages and
disadvantages resulting in generalizations that are entirely subjective in
the end. Whatever suits an individual's taste buds is the best water to use.
--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.
Scott Dorsey
>
>I wonder if we could get a little clarification. The original questioner
> seems to be saying that s/he likes "softened" water, and has bad
>results with RO. While RO (like two-step ion exchange) does soften
>water, for many people the term "softening" is used in reference to a
>process of displacement (rather than removal). In this much cheaper
>approach, sodium (from salt) replaces calcium and magnesium ions. Much
>cheaper, and eliminates soap scum and hard-water scale pretty well. Also
>adds a lot of salt, which would naturally enhance certain flavors.
>Perhaps the questioner would like to try adding a pinch of salt to RO water?
That is why I suggested the use of Burton Water Salts (which is a mixture
of different mineral salts) or a little bit of Vichy water (which is
super, super soft mineral water) added to the RO water in places where
people were forced to use RO water (such as onboard ship).
However, the original poster had said that he had heard that RO water was
the best thing possible for making tea, and that is what he was asking
about.
>As to "unwanted taste": it's not clear whether this "side-taste" is an
>actual new flavor note, or a change in balance/intensity of the existing
>profile. Hard to see whence a new flavor might arise, unless the
>purification system is contaminated.
I think it's pretty clear that it's a change in the existing profile,
but even small changes salt levels can seriously change flavours in
general. That's why potato chips are so good.
Danica
> To my taste, RO water used for tea gives the brewed tea much unwanted
> ' side taste'.
> Are there other tea connoisseurs out there who know RO water to be
> best for brewing tea ? ?.
I don't know about the best but I do think that RO water is better
than overly particulated/ mineralized water. I have Arrowhead at work
which is very mineralized and I think the RO water filter I have at
home makes better water. I added some mineral salts to the water and
couldn't really tell the difference. I did like Crystal Geyser but
I'd have to do a side-by-side taste test to see if it was discernible
yet to my palate.
What is everyone's favorite water for brewing tea?
Phyll
There is this water vending machine by Glacier Spring (or is it just
Glacier) that supposedly does RO and then add back essential minerals
back. True? One tea enthusiast in L.A. went to the Las Vegas Tea
Convention sometime ago and witnessed the presentation done by the
Glacier vending machine salespeople. They said their machine adds
back minerals after the RO is completed. I've often brewed tea with
this water and I have not tasted any detriment to the quality of the
tea. In fact, it tastes quite good.
Having said that, Crystal Geyser bottled water is still my go-to tea
water. Fiji's not bad, too...but it's damn expensive for me.
Will Yardley
> On Mar 26, 1:24 pm, "Danica" <danicaradova...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > To my taste, RO water used for tea gives the brewed tea much
>> > unwanted ' side taste'. Are there other tea connoisseurs out there
>> > who know RO water to be best for brewing tea ? ?.
> Having said that, Crystal Geyser bottled water is still my go-to tea
> water.
I usually brew with Crystal Geyeser (and I don't really notice any big
difference w/ Arrowhead Mills - nor have I seen it create any major
deposits in my kettles).
I do wish there were a solution that didn't involve so many bottles,
though.
> Fiji's not bad, too...but it's damn expensive for me.
I have used it before - I thought it had too many minerals in it,
though? Isn't it available pretty cheaply, especially at Trader Joes? I
always thought it was kind of a budget water, despite their marketing
hype.
A lot of people seem to use Volvic - a little expensive for me, at least
for daily consumption.
We'll have to have a water taste-off at one of our next tasting sessions
and see if any of us can tell the difference in a blind taste test under
(relatively) controlled circumstances.
w
Blues Lyne
"Danica" <danicar...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1174940646....@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
Oddly enough, I usually use Arrowhead Spring Water. Just goes to show ya.
I've had some other spring waters when visiting the in-laws in Michigan that
didn't work at all for me.
Blues
Phyll
> "Danica" <danicaradova...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -
Had a tasting on Saturday with Danica and some others (not sure if the
others are RFDT regulars or not) with 3 types of water: Fiji, New
Zealand Artesian water (Trader Joe's brand) and RO water with some
ionic minerals added (5-6 drops per 1.5 liter?).
Overall impression was that the RO water + ionic mineral droplets
brewed the sheng Banzhang pu'er that we had beautifully. One of us
even thought that Fiji and NZ Artesian are inferior to the RO. I
personally think the RO water performed well and not worse than the
expensive artesian water.
Phyll
sjschen
I'm not surprised to hear that remineralized RO water performed just
as well. I think as long as a mineral water has a good balance of
minerals and no off-flavours, the tea or coffee that's brewed from it
turns out just as well as the $11 dollar a litre stuff.