What Water Do You Use to Make Tea?
Since ancient times, Chinese people have conducted in-depth research on the water used for making tea. The Book of Tea by Lu Yu, a tea saint in the Tang Dynasty, pointed out that mountain spring water is the best water for making tea, while river water is the worst. Cai Xiang, a famous tea master in the Song Dynasty, said in "Tea Records": "The water spring is unwilling, and it can damage the taste of tea." The academia of the Chinese Dynasty liked to make tea with famous water. There are different famous water rankings, among which the more famous ones are Huishan Spring, Yuquan, Hupao Quan et al. Now that some famous springs have dried up, or the water quality is no longer what it used to be, what water should we use to make tea?
If you use unfiltered tap water when brewing tea at home, there may be the smell of chlorine gas and other metal impurities, which will damage the true taste of the tea, especially when brewing green tea with a lighter, clearer and more delicate taste. If there is no filter, you can try to make tea with bottled mineral water, and try to imitate the taste of tea made from mountain spring water.
Bottled mineral water is actually a kind of mountain spring water. Everyone can take a sip of mineral water when the mouth is clean and there is no odor, and feel the sweet taste of the water.
Emperor Song Huizong, a master of tea ceremony in the Song Dynasty, wrote in Daguan Tea Theory: "Water is beautiful with its lightness and sweetness. Lightness and sweetness are the nature of water, and it is rare." Sweetness is easier to understand, so what is lightness?
We can understand it as the hardness of water, that is, the density of other substances in the water, such as minerals. The less substance is soft water. Generally speaking, brewing tea with soft water can better bring out the aroma and taste of tea. Many famous water sources and bottled water in foreign countries are of high quality, but the hardness of the water is also very high. The mineral waters of many famous water areas in Europe, such as Hungary and Austria, contain a lot of minerals. When used to make tea, the taste of tea will be eclipsed and it is wasted.
Many tea lovers bring their own tea to brew tea when they travel abroad, but they often encounter the problem of greatly reduced tea flavor. The reason is that the local water quality is different from that of Hong Kong. Therefore, when you travel abroad, you might as well go to the supermarket to buy bottled water to make tea, so that you will not waste the tea that has traveled to the oceans. It is indeed a pleasure to sip a good tea while enjoying the scenery of the lake and mountains.