The many facets of water

It may seem commonplace at first to fill your kettle with water and bring it to the boil before infusing your tea leaves.

Upon closer observation, the boiling vessel's material largely affects the taste of the resulting boiled water. Our taste buds are tingled by the silkiness of boiled water and once it comes into contact with the tea leaves, yet another dimension of the tea-licious brew unfolds. The same water source when boiled in different vessels, under different heating conditions, results in the law of interaction between tea and water. A sort of hidden order behind the rhythm of the tea. Weak at times, overpowering the next minute.

Starting at a common water source, one should experiment with different boiling vessels. Making use of the concept of relative objectivity in one's experiences, water should be allowed to interact freely with those different materials that make up boiling vessels. The essence of a seemingly ordinary activity such as boiling water resides in the diverse experiences inherent to the combination of water, fire and earth.

Adapted from TeaParker

Revisiting my first lesson in tea - Water

Water is the main pillar of preparing tea. When using a good water source in combination with quality tea leaves, one is almost always guaranteed a better tea tasting experience. In other words, good water should be a highly dynamic entity, overflowing with vitality. Water of this nature never disappoints in terms of the qualities of the final tea infusion: clarity of brew, fragrance, sweetness. A multidimensional experience for our senses of smell and taste.

Being in between solids and gases, the largely dynamic nature of water as a liquid extends into a blinding myriad of varying tastes and flavours which certainly add to the fun of tea appreciation keeping it uniquely charming, and by no means lesser than a class of its own in the field of taste exploration.

 A long term observation of tea aficionados is this: Consistently, the same water source and vessels for boiling water are used. A wealth of tea tasting notes and experiences are accumulated through the passing of time and more importantly by recognising the hallmarks of suitable vessels used for boiling water.

Adapted from TeaParker