Water and oxygen
Aaron W. Hsu
I've heard that distilling water can harm its taste in teas, and I can
see why this might be the case, as happens when boiling, but I am
wondering if it is possible to re-oxygenate teas in the same way that
a fish tank is? That is, could we conceivably just put water into
a bottle with some air in it, shake vigorously, and have it work?
If not, are there any other decent ways to fix water that has been
distilled or messed up through other means?
Aaron Hsu
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Email: <arc...@sacrideo.us> | WWW: <http://www.sacrideo.us>
Scheme Programming is subtle; subtlety can be hard.
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Will Yardley
>
> I've heard that distilling water can harm its taste in teas, and I can
> see why this might be the case, as happens when boiling, but I am
> wondering if it is possible to re-oxygenate teas in the same way that
> a fish tank is? That is, could we conceivably just put water into
> a bottle with some air in it, shake vigorously, and have it work?
>
> If not, are there any other decent ways to fix water that has been
> distilled or messed up through other means?
I don't think the problem is oxygen, or at least just oxygen. The
problem is also that distilling takes all the minerals out of the water,
and you often end up with kind of flat tasting tea.
You can re-mineralize water, either with little drops of concentrated
minerals, or by storing or boiling the water with mineral stones (some
tea shops use Mai Fan stones, a Chinese stone which I believe may be a
type of granite)... but I think the best solution is really to not use
distilled or reverse-osmosis water for making tea, if at all possible.
w
Derek
25, 2008, Will Yardley rolled initiative and posted the following:
That somewhat depends on your area. My folks live in Kentucky and the
water there has a lot of calcium in it. The water that comes out of
their reverse osmosis filter makes pretty good tea.
But if I make it from tap water, it tastes "heavy," for lack of a
better descriptor.
Then again, this is all a matter of taste. Since I like neither
asparagus nor eggplant, my wife says my taste is suspect.
--
Derek
Some people dream of success, while other people live to crush those
dreams.
Scott Dorsey
>
>I've heard that distilling water can harm its taste in teas, and I can
>see why this might be the case, as happens when boiling, but I am
>wondering if it is possible to re-oxygenate teas in the same way that
>a fish tank is? That is, could we conceivably just put water into
>a bottle with some air in it, shake vigorously, and have it work?
Maybe, but the issue with distillation isn't removal of oxygen, it is
removal of minerals.
>If not, are there any other decent ways to fix water that has been
>distilled or messed up through other means?
Depends on what was done to it. Burton Water Salts can do wonders for
distilled water, but for the most part it's cheaper just not to distill
it in the first place.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
Scott Dorsey
>
>That somewhat depends on your area. My folks live in Kentucky and the
>water there has a lot of calcium in it. The water that comes out of
>their reverse osmosis filter makes pretty good tea.
>
>But if I make it from tap water, it tastes "heavy," for lack of a
>better descriptor.
The home reverse osmosis system still leaves a lot of minerals behind. They get
most of it, but the mineral content left is still much higher than that of distilled
water.
If you had only distilled water, though, you could easily add a little bit of the
overmineralized tap water and get something that was a nice balance.
>Then again, this is all a matter of taste. Since I like neither
>asparagus nor eggplant, my wife says my taste is suspect.
You like tea, which is always a good sign.
dasu...@gmail.com
I agree, except when the filter is very new there is a few grains of
hardness that gets left in the RO Process. Also for those who don't
know many tea shops and Starbucks use RO process and then use a
remineralization cartridge which puts in about 5-6 grains of hardness
back into the water for the PERFECT water to make tea and coffee. RO
water is so much better than very hard water. Have a friend blindly
provide you RO and hard water and make side by side tea with it and
try it and see what you think. Also BTW what many stores sell
(typically store brand labels) are actually RO filtered municipal
water and many people buy that water to make tea with. Save yourself a
LOT of money by putting in an undersink RO unit for $150, You will
have about $50 worth of filtering cost per year for moderate usage,
quite a bargain compared with buying water at the store.
Derek
26, 2008, Scott Dorsey rolled initiative and posted the following:
Not only do I like tea, I've been posting and lurking around here for
over a decade. So that makes me a little obsessive, too. :)
--
Derek
Chemistry professors never die, they just fail to react.
Derek
27, 2008, dasu...@gmail.com rolled initiative and posted the
following:
> On Sep 26, 11:07 am, klu...@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
Actually, most bottled water brands are RO municipal water with
minerals added back for flavor.
In fact, even spring water is, as I understand, typically filtered and
processed before sale. This makes sense as some of the best water I
ever tasted came from a spring in the mountains of West Virginia.
However, it soured in our canteens and was really nasty just a couple
of hours down the trail.
--
Derek
Reality does not exist - yet.
eliz.wi...@btinternet.com
> Hey All,
>
> I've heard that distilling water can harm its taste in teas, and I can
> see why this might be the case, as happens when boiling, but I am
> wondering if it is possible to re-oxygenate teas in the same way that
> a fish tank is? That is, could we conceivably just put water into
> a bottle with some air in it, shake vigorously, and have it work?
>
> If not, are there any other decent ways to fix water that has been
> distilled or messed up through other means?
>
> Aaron Hsu
>
> --
> +++++++++++++++ ((lambda (x) (x x)) (lambda (x) (x x))) +++++++++++++++
> Scheme Programming is subtle; subtlety can be hard.
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Oxygen is needed to make a good tasting cup of tea because it bond
with the essenial oils to produce flavour. If you shake water long
enough, it will become re-oxygenated and therefore the ability to bond
with the essential oils will be restored. However, water which is
depleted in oxgyen such as distilled water, is often missing other
important chemicals which will enchance the flavour of tea.
More info: <http://www.englistea.oug.uk>
DogMa
> Oxygen is needed to make a good tasting cup of tea because it bond
> with the essenial oils to produce flavour. If you shake water long
> enough, it will become re-oxygenated and therefore the ability to bond
> with the essential oils will be restored. However, water which is
> depleted in oxgyen such as distilled water, is often missing other
> important chemicals which will enchance the flavour of tea.
>
> More info: <http://www.englistea.oug.uk>
http://englishtea.org.uk/chemistry_of_tea.html
"Oxygen plays an important role in making a cup of tea because it helps
to release the best flavours of tea. The essential oils in Black Tea
that are responsible for much of the taste will only be released in
boiling water. But the water is boiled for too long and the oxygen
content is depleted and the result is that the essential oils cannot
bind to the water molecules. It is therefore essential to get the best
balance between heat and oxygen to create the a delicious cup of tea."
That would have to be one of the more extravagantly bogus expositions of
this canard. Aside from the silly conception of solbilization mechanics,
the whole oxygen assertion remains, AFAIK, entirely unsubstantiated.
Countervailing evidence that distinguishes other effects (e.g., just the
taste of degassed water, loss of multivalent ions through expulsion of
CO2, etc.) welcome.
If someone wants to play... the solubility of oxygen in water at 100C is
about zero, though it takes a while to get there. At 20C, it's about
five times higher than at 90C. So just adding a little room-temp, fully
aerated water to boiled water will produce substantially oxygenated hot
water. See if you can taste the difference - I can't.
-DM
Nigel
concerning the ignorant chemistry promulagated by
http://englishtea.org.uk/chemistry_of_tea.html
>
> That would have to be one of the more extravagantly bogus expositions of
> this canard. Aside from the silly conception of solbilization mechanics,
> the whole oxygen assertion remains, AFAIK, entirely unsubstantiated.
Naturally this prompted me to visit the site.
Apart from agreeing DM's view on water oxygenation, I would add that
the essential oils of black tea are NOT (as the site claims)
responsible for much of the taste of tea. They are responsible for
the Aroma - which is smelled not tasted.
The site itself is discrepant on several levels.
Information offered as fact is fanciful - this is the way tea myths
are coined. There are well above (!) the average number of spelling
mistakes and typos - this is sheer laziness. The site has no physical
address or contact details - not only am I always very suspicious of
the intentions of a site owner that is shy of owning up to an address,
but in the UK this omission is illegal. As the site registrant (one
Elizabeth Wilkinson) is a web designer, she should know the law. And
more importantly, despite the site being a 'not for profit' .org
domain it unashamedy promotes one commercial tea company for whom it
can only be a rather regrettable front.
Nigel at Teacraft
smchan...@gmail.com
> On Sep 29, 10:02 pm, DogMa <DogM...@worldnet.att.net> wrote,
> concerning the ignorant chemistry promulagated by
> http://englishtea.org.uk/chemistry_of_tea.html
>
>
>
> > That would have to be one of the more extravagantly bogus expositions of
> > this canard. Aside from the silly conception of solbilization mechanics,
> > the whole oxygen assertion remains, AFAIK, entirely unsubstantiated.
>
> Naturally this prompted me to visit the site.
>
> Apart from agreeing DM's view on water oxygenation, I would add that
> the essential oils of black tea are NOT (as the site claims)
> responsible for much of the taste of tea. They are responsible for
> the Aroma - which is smelled not tasted.
>
But I was wondering if the aromatic compounds like Linallol and
Geraniol present in flavory Darjeeling teas contribute to the taste of
the teas or not. To my mind- the flavor compounds contribute to the
taste also. For example, we can easily tell by taste if darjeeling tea
is muscatal or not by tasting itself , without nosing and ignoring the
aroma compounds which may drift into the nasal paasage.
Thanks in advance to Nigel for his expected detailed scientific and
lucid explanation as reply, as usual.
S. M . Changoiwala from
Gopaldhara Tea Estate, Darjeeling
Space Cowboy
dont need to know the particulars if I think it makes the best cup of
tea. I think refrigerated water taste better than tap water. I've
never seen any scientific evidence on what makes a good cup of tea.
Jim
DogMa wrote:
> studiow...@googlemail.com wrote:
> > Oxygen is needed to make a good tasting cup of tea because it bond
> > with the essenial oils to produce flavour.
...it is possible to be right for the wrong reason...