Took me 3 months to realize my Chinese tea was ruined by tap water

I was brewing these expensive oolong teas from Fujian and they tasted flat... bitter... just wrong. Thought it was bad tea until I visited a friend in Shanghai who used filtered water. One sip and I knew. My tap water here in the US has chlorine and minerals killing the flavor. Switched to a $20 Brita pitcher and now I taste actual notes of orchid and honey. Anyone else make this mistake with Chinese tea?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_eva9d ago

Did you try the Brita water vs bottled spring water side by side? I noticed a big difference with mine too but some cheap spring water still tasted flatter than the filtered tap.

casey9099d ago

Tap water's usually the culprit lol. One thing though - Brita filters don't actually remove all the minerals that mess with tea flavor. They take out chlorine and some sediment but calcium and magnesium still get through. I use a ZeroWater pitcher for my Japanese greens and it makes a huge difference compared to my old Brita. The difference is even bigger when you're brewing delicate oolongs like those Fujian ones.