Should I use purified water or mineral water to make tea?

Purified water can be used to make tea. Using mineral water would be a waste, and the minerals in mineral water are not as rich as those in purified water, so it cannot bring out the effects of tea well. Making tea is something every family does, and it is mainly used to entertain guests. It is a traditional culture in China, and everyone needs to learn how to soak their feet. Now let us learn how to make tea together, hoping to improve everyone’s tea-making skills.

Ancient people used water

The requirements of tea lovers in ancient times for water for brewing tea are: light, clear, sweet and lively. Light means light water body, and soft water without inorganic salts is preferred; clear water quality means paying attention to clarifying and nourishing the water; sweet water means that the brewed tea has a good taste; lively water source emphasizes that the water must flow frequently. The ancients believed that natural water was the best water for making tea. Natural water can be divided into spring water, stream water, river water, lake water, well water, snow water, rain water, etc. according to its source, among which spring water is the best. Regarding springs, the ancients had the concept of heavenly springs and underground springs. Heavenly springs refer to rain water and snow water, while underground springs refer to mountain water, river water, and well water.

Water Use Today

Due to the influence of factors such as air pollution and environmental changes, the water used by modern people to make tea is different. Nowadays, the water commonly used for making tea is as follows:

◎Spring water: Among underground water sources, unpolluted natural spring water is the best choice. The spring water is always flowing. It penetrates through the sandstone layer, which is equivalent to multiple filtrations. It is clean, free of impurities, soft in quality, clear and sweet. It contains many trace elements that are beneficial to the human body and is very suitable for making tea. The more famous springs in my country include Zhenjiang Zhongling Spring, Wuxi Huishan Spring, Suzhou Guanyin Spring, Hangzhou Hupao Spring and Jinan Baotu Spring.

◎Well water: Generally speaking, deep groundwater is protected by a water-resistant layer, has less pollution and is clean, while shallow groundwater is easily contaminated by ground pollutants and has poor water quality, so deep wells are better than shallow wells.

◎Purified water: Soft water should be used to make tea, because soft water can make the nutrients in tea leaves precipitate faster. Purified water is a typical soft water. Although the filtered pure water loses its natural properties, it is colorless and tasteless, and can bring out the nature of tea to the greatest extent.

◎Tap water: Tap water is generally river water or lake water that has been artificially purified and disinfected. If the tap water has a strong chlorine smell, it would be better to collect the tap water in a clean container and let it sit for a day and a night before using it to boil it and make tea.

◎Mineral water: Mineral water tastes good, but it is not necessarily suitable for making tea, because it contains too many inorganic salts, which will affect the properties of the tea. But weakly alkaline mineral water is very suitable for making tea.