Water for Tea

Hello everyone!

Today I would like to tell you a bit more about water for tea.
Yesterday we saw that to make a good a cup of tea we first need good water.

Then, what does “good quality water” mean for Tea?

Since water is a central element in tea making, it is only normal that countless Tea Masters have thought and written about this.
The first of them is also the first to have produced texts exclusively devoted to tea, and his name was Lu Yu (733-804).

Lu Yu's comment about choosing water for Tea is :

“When it comes to water, water from the Mountain is the top, water from the Creek or River is the middle, water from the well is the bottom.”

He adds that the "best and cleanest spring water flows slowly over granite or stone. Water sources where many mountain streams consolidate may appear crystal clear but can contain a lot of scum and toxins because they are stagnant. To extract water from this source, one must create an opening to allow the existing water to be replaced by freshwater".

When retrieving water from the river, Lu Yu advises that one should avoid the crowded bit of the river but when extracting water from a well, one should seek out a busy well.
While a river being full of people means that the water is unclear and possibly polluted, a frequently used well produces good water as more of it is being drawn from the earth.

All these advices about water comes from the book The Classic of Tea written by Lu Yu around the year 760. A free translation of this work can be obtained at:
http://archive.globalteahut.org/article/597

For some people it might seem nothing more than common sense, however, the real point of the talk here is that to brew good tea we need Pure Water.

Now you may ask: "Alright, that's nice, but what kind of water do I actually use?"

Indeed, unless you live in Norway and go to draw water every weekend in the mountains (yes, in Norway it is quite possible to drink water from streams along hiking trails !), it has become very complicated to obtain “pure” water.

Some are lucky enough to live close to a small spring and can go there to stock up on water, it seems that effort makes water taste better :)

What is certain, however, is that going to draw your own water changes our relationship and understanding of water.
Effort giving the water a better taste, it may not be that stupid after all! Don't you think so?

Thank you for reading until the end! If you are interested in the way of Tea, you can subscribe as I have many more stories to share!

Until then, I wish you happy tea sessions!

All photos in this post are mine

This post is an adaptation of one of my posts on Hive (username @emeraldtiger)