学水质

One another aspect about brewing tea, is to understand water and its properties, in relation to its interaction with the liquid in a cup. Water, isn't just water. Water taste very different, and I'm already particular even as to what labels of still mineral water a restaurant offers. In tea brewing, the only way to totally get the theories, is to brew it myself, sip the flavors, and learn.

Tea masters and purists believe in using 'pure' water. This simply translates to water with a pH value of 7. How one could source that, it entirely depends on where you live, and whether a well, creek or supermarket is the most convenient. In Singapore, we're lucky. Our tap water flits between a pH value of 7 to 9, and possesses a low sodium content, which works fine. Once filtered through say, a Brita jug or something to cut out the chlorine and fluoride, this water is good enough to brew tea with.

At the same time, I began using the ceramic scoop with a ceramic kettle in order to understand how water quality might be subtly altered by additional filtering through clay (that is crystalline) before it ends up in the cup to be called tea. I had to also understand how the minerals in heated water react to the way (gentle or rough) I scooped it out. Do you remember watching John Wu's 'Red Cliff' where there's a scene of Xiao Qiao making tea for Cao Cao? (片段为'小乔煮水'。) When I first watched that, I was like..."Does water really matter? Or it was time to slip in eye candy?" Now I know. It does. Water.

I was lucky to be able to partner a senior in class to experiment. She's really good at brewing tea, and understands how water and leaves interact. She's also curious about the properties of water from different regions. Not that she hasn't tried out different types of water. After all, she's got years ahead of me. But it was great to do a concerted, side by side tasting sessions with different teas in a hopefully methodical process these two weeks. The one thing I'm a little perturbed about, was the temperature used to brew each tea. My tea teacher isn't an advocate of water thermometers or a regimented scientific process. She approaches the art of tea from a slightly more artistic and emotional angle. Two persons, no water thermometer, we could only gauge with bare hands and experience. Gaaah. That would be a big factor in determining the final taste of a tea.

However, after tasting out different brews, imh(amateur)o, using water from the mountains work best with white, green and yellow tea. Especially yellow tea. I've been achieving the sweetest brews of yellow with Scottish water from the highlands. (Think Glenlivet Speyside. In Singapore, get a bottle from Glen Brae at Marks & Spencer.) Hurhurhur. It's not very different from whisky when I think about having it on the rocks! Water already 'opens up' and mitigates cask strength whisky. Ice might mask or heighten briny flavors. The nose and taste of single malts and craft bourbons change according to what sort of water dumped in. Evian, is too salty. In comparison, I'm not very fond of using Volvic or Fiji because the taste tests have proven that those produce a slightly less 'sweet' tea, but fairly neutral in whisky. Sometimes, I might be better off using filtered tap water, especially in Singapore.