Why ‘water is the mother of tea’?

To have a good teapot, it is necessary to ensure the following factors: “source of water used to make tea – choose good tea – tea making skills – tea set – tea friends.” these are five essential factors that ancestors concluded about making tea. The water source used to make tea is the most critical factor.

Talking about the quality of water to make good tea, tea connoisseurs often recite the saying: “Son Thuy is upper, Tinh Thuy is lower, Giang Thuy is middle,” which means that if you take spring water, take upstream water; if you take river water, bring water. Midstream water. In particular, tea lovers love to use rainwater collected from areca trees that have been left for a long time or dew on lotus leaves to brew excellent teapots.

Therefore, it is easy to get the best taste of tea, but it is not easy to bring out its full flavor and aroma.

Let’s take a look at the four most important factors that affect water quality:

pH: Pure water has pH = 7, which is a good point as a standard for making tea, but not necessarily the best. The pH in tea leaves is lower than 7, which means it has an acidic environment, so slightly acidic water is probably best (around pH 5 to 6);

Mineral and chemical content:

It is mainly related to the “hardness”, smell, and taste of the water. This is the most critical factor. There are some ions in chemicals that can completely ruin the taste of tea, such as chlorine (-) ions, so tap water in Vietnam that is disinfected with chlorine is something you should stay away from. The chlorine content must be lower than 0.5 mg/liter, which current household filters can ensure;

Mineral content: harsh minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, dramatically affect the color, aroma, and taste of tea. In terms of color, the more calcium and magnesium, the darker the color of the tea and the total calcium and magnesium content. It should be lower than 40 mg/liter, at most lower than 80 mg/liter. Regarding taste and flavor, the more calcium and magnesium, the more acrid and the less fragrant and sweet the tea tastes. The total calcium and magnesium content must even be lowered (i.e., less than 40 mg/liter) to ensure that it does not destroy the taste of the tea. However, if the total calcium and magnesium content is too low, the tea often has a strong bitter taste, so the amount should be at most 20 mg/liter. Thus, the optimal range of calcium and magnesium in tea water should be higher than 20 mg/liter but lower than 40 mg/liter. This range looks very wide, but remember that the unit is milligrams, which is very difficult. Adjust; just a little too much will quickly turn into distilled water or hard water;

Other minerals such as sodium, potassium, nitrate, and sulfate also affect the quality of tea brewing. The total mineral content in water, including sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, nitrate, and sulfate, must be less than 200 mg/liter. Many particular sodium and potassium minerals also make water taste salty, which is not good at all;

The content of other chemicals, such as organic substances, should be avoided; they cause strange, unpleasant odors and spoil the tea. Therefore, before using water, it is necessary to check the COD and BOD index carefully; the lower, the better;

Freshness, dissolved oxygen content: Water used to make tea should not be boiled; it must be fresh, new water. New water contains a certain amount of dissolved oxygen (not the oxygen in H2O, but the O2 in the air… dissolved in water). If you boil the water again, most of it will be lost. Dissolved oxygen and the flavor of tea will certainly be affected because the oxidation process between volatile substances in tea and oxygen partly produces them;

Be more careful; do not use water left overnight, even if it is not boiled, because leaving it overnight will also cause an imbalance in dissolved oxygen, reducing the effectiveness of water use;

Water source temperature: After having a water source with all the above good characteristics, you should choose a water temperature as low and cold as possible to retain a lot of dissolved oxygen.

Sources of water used to make tea:

We often hear about particular types of water that tea masters use to make tea, such as upstream spring water, ancient pagoda well water on rocky mountains, or dew water on lotus leaves. Still, today, only some people have access to these water sources.

For those who know how to enjoy tea, the water source is significant to the quality of the tea. If we live in the countryside, we have plenty of rainwater and fresh, healthy water to make tea, but to ensure clean water to make delicious tea, everyone needs to use pure water to provide quality; Aquafina or Dasani pure water is always available. Trusted.