Vicony Tea Directory

Tea And Water

There is an old saying in China: "Water is the mother of tea." Premium leaf tea should be infused with good water. That is why people described- "Longjing tea and Tiger-Running spring water" as "double uniqueness" of Hangzhou. There was another saying coming down from ancient times: "Tea from the top of Mengshan Mountain and water from Yangtze River were the best choices."

Ancient chinese chose water for brewing tea in a special system.

Xu Cishu of the Ming Dynasty described in his book "Tea Report" that the essence of a premium tea wasn't able to be achieved without good water, He stressed the importance of water and thought that tea could not be evaluated without water. Zhang Dafu discussed in his "Meihuacaotang Conversation by Writing" that the nature of tea was only discovered in water; one hundred percent perfect tea liquid could be obtained when eighty percent perfect tea was infused with one hundred percent perfect water, while eighty percent perfect tea liquid could be obtained when one hundred percent perfect tea was brewed with eight percent perfect water". Zhang Yuan described in "Tea Records" that“Tea was the god of water and water the foundation of tea".

Lu Yu was the first man to particularly discuss and evaluate water for brewing tea in his writing called "Tea Classic". He pointed out that flow mountain water was the best, river water was the next and well water was the worst. Among waters from the mountains, water from springs stone ponds and murmuring streams were the best.
On this basis, tea scholars of the later ages summed up the standards for evaluating water from the nature by the following qualities: clarity, cleanliness, light, sweetness , flow.
Clarity: the water should be colorless and transparent, without precipitates.
Light: Emperor Qinglong measured spring waters everywhere using a special silver "dou" (a measuring container). He concluded that spring water from Sanquan Mountain of Beijing was the lightest and wrote an inscription for it: "The First Spring under Heaven". Today, the evaluation was understood by analyzing calcium and magnesium content with modern technology (i.e. hard water or soft water).
Sweet: It referred to the fresh taste of water.
Cold: The water should be cold before being heated. The ancient people thought it wonderful to cook tea with snow water.
Clean: The water should be free from dirt or contaminants.
Flowing: Su Shi's poem reads that "Fresh water means running water". Tang Geng of the Song Dynasty described in his "Tea Competition Notes" that water should be used from either river or well, What really mattered was whether it was flowing". Stagnant water shouldn't be used.

Modern Scientific Indicators

With the advancement of modern science and technology, new standards for the nature of water were applied, including:
1. Suspended substance: content of insoluble solids isolated by filtration.
2. Soluble solid matter: total content of soluble mineral elements.
3. Hardness: content of the most common elements such as calcium and magnesium in natural water.
4. Alkalinity: content of subjects which can accept hydrogen ions.
5. pH value: a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution
Water for brewing tea, should have a lower content of suspended matters, but no visible suspended particles. The water hardness should be less than 5 degrees, and pH less than 5. Surface water in non-saline areas can also be used

See Also:

• Tea Storage
• Tea Infusion Skills
• Tan Yang Congou
• Tai Ping Hou Kui
• Chun Mee Tea
• Gunpowder Tea
• Da Fang Tea
• Huo Qing Tea