Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Water testing for the love of TEA! (with Gyokuro Tamahomare)

Oh boy, that was quite the episode!

I have tested 7 water sources for you guys, one of which many of you won't be able to access: my tap water.

Nonetheless, I have tested Gyokuro Tamahomare, as promised, with all 7 water sources except one. I ran out of tea and had to make a decision. While the base statistics of my home-filtered reverse osmosis water will be included, I decided to exclude the version without added minerals in view of my decreased tea supply -- I already know it doesn't taste as good as the one with added minerals. I also found out that my home filtering system might need to be changed soon as TDS should have shown lower than 55. Last filter change gave us 34. Oh well, nothing is ever perfect.

(By the way you can purchase Gyokuro Tamahomare here!)

Here are the contenders (it's lots of data, so you may skip further down if you will):
My own Rocky View County tap water, my filtered (reverse-osmosis) tap water, the same water with added minerals (it's an attached filter that sends good minerals back into the water, a must if I don't want to spend a fortune on bottled water), the famed ethos water from Starbucks, flow water (Canadian product) which comes in a box, the mysterious Fiji water and the neurogenesis Happy water by Live Happy (also Canadian).

Back (from left to right): ethos, flow, Fiji & Happy water
Front (from left to right): Tap, filtered, filtered with added minerals water
Before I read out the stats, here's extra info that I got from the bottles and websites:

Fiji 
Source from Yaqara, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands
data:
"Earth finest water" (claim)
Typical analysis in p.p.m.:
Nitrates: 0.27
Calcium: 18
Arsenic: 0 (good, right?)
Chlorides (Cl-): 9
Sodium: 18
Lead: 0
Silica: 93
Copper: 0
Zinc: 0
pH: 7.7 (pure water is said to be at 7 pH)
Bicarbonates (HCO³): 152
Potassium: 5
Sulfates (SO4): 1
Fluoride Ions: 0.24
Dissolved mineral salts: 222

Live Happy water 
data:
Lithia water, naturally alcaline. Blend of spring water & mineral water. Said to be sourced from two ancient mountain springs (Halcyon Spring & Mount Woodside Spring, BC, Canada). They claim that the lithium is good for mood symptoms (such as depression). Whether or not lithium salts in water is properly backed with scientific research, I did not seek to verify further than a few websites saying the tests were on hold.
p.p.m. Analysis:
Potassium: 2.0
Calcium: 21.5
Magnesium: 4.3
Fluoride: 1.4
Lithium (I think they mean Lithium salts): 0.1
pH: 7.4 (closer to purer water)

Ingredients: Spring & Mineral water, ozone

flow water
Source from Mildmay, Ontario
data:
Naturally alkaline spring water, high pH.
"Natural Eletrolytes, Essential minerals." 
(claim)
"Our water is nurtured for thousands of years in a limestone aquifer where it naturally collects essential minerals, electrolytes and an alkaline pH." (claim)
The claim behind the higher pH is "to offset modern acidic diets and electrolytes to keep the body more hydrated"
This really was on the bottle:
Nutrition Facts per 500ml (% is Daily Value)
Calories: 0
Fat: 0g | 0%
Sodium: 4mg | 1%
Carbohydrates: 0g | 0%
Protein: 0g
Calcium: 4% (the really useful information is in percentage!)
Well, if my calculations are correct, Calcium should be 44mg ((44mg / 1100 mg) * 100 = 4, source: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/calcium.html)

Mineral salt content: 353 mg/L

p.p.m.
Magnesium: 29
Calcium: 73 (this is where I wonder how they got their 4%... Someone correct me here!)
Potassium: 2
Sodium: 8
Nitrate as Nitrogen (No3-N): 5
Chlorides (I'm assuming it is Chlorides and not Chlorine... (Cl)): 15
Arsenic: 0
Copper: 0
Fluoride: 0.112 (I like how precise this is)
Lead: 0
Zinc: 0
Bicarbonates (HCO³): 298
Sulfates (SO4): 11.1
pH: 8.1

ethos water - Starbucks
Source from Lafayette Spring, Lafayette TWP, WI 54729, USA

And that's ALL. Seriously.
This website seems to imply that it's pure H²O (fooducate website)
Another more serious source (http://www.ewg.org/) says there is no available data online regarding the content of that water. It's like gambling, right? I just hope that if there are harmful substances in there that some authorities (FDA?) would have already warned us. So for now, I'm assuming it's just filtered tap water from the USA.

My tap water
Source from waterworks of Langdon, Rocky View County, Canada (I guess it comes from the Rocky mountains and down to us, picking up lots of minerals along the way)

I got the chart with me directly from the waterworks! I will include the Canadian drinking water guideline maximum when such a guideline is defined for certain minerals and such. If there isn't a maximum included, that's because there is no guideline for it.

Calcium: 22.4
Iron (dissolved): <0.03 (max 0.3)
Magnesium: 21.5
Manganese, dissolved:  <0.01 (max 0.05)
Potassium: 1.2
Sodium: 132 (max 200)
Bicarbonates (HCO³): 216
Bromides:  <0.01
Carbonates: 0
Chlorides: 7.9 (max 250)
Fluorides: 0.10 (max 1.5)
Nitrates as Nitrogen: <0.02 (max 10)
Nitrites as Nitrogen: <0.02 (max 1)
Nitrates + Nitrites as Nitrogen: <0.02
Sulfates (SO4): 229 (max 500)
pH: 8.05

Hardness as CACO³: 144 (but we have a water softener. I talked on the phone with someone from the waterworks and they believe that it's mainly the hardness that is going to be affected. My water softener is salt based.)

Total dissolved solids (calculated): 520 (max 500. Wait... a minute...)

Ammonia Nitrogen: <0.9
Chloramines: 0.3 (max 3)
Bromate: <0.010 (max 0.1, well, limit reached, huh?)

***Now the fun and creepy facts about our tap water (and maybe yours!). Given... they are in micrograms (µg/L). That means the amount is very tiny. (what have I done...)

Boron: 158 (max 5000)
Aluminum: 1.6 (max 100)
Chromium: 0.6 (max 50)
Copper : 15.5 (max 1000)
Zinc: 19.8 (5000)
Arsenic : 0.1 (max 10)
Selenium: 0.5 (max 10)
Silver: 0.3
Cadmium: <0.5 (max 5)
Antimony: <0.3 (max 6)
Barium: 2.8 (max 1000)
Mercury: <0.05 (max 1)
Lead: 0.4 (max 10)
Uranium: 2.4 (20)

Doesn't that make you feel comfortable drinking it and giving it to the neighbour's kids? Water filtering systems should be given to all houses for free, then we make a new research on life improvement in Canada versus the people in the USA without a filtering system and no frequent water bottle purchases. Who's with me?


Now that the extensive list of our water specimen contents is out of the way, we can concentrate on those results I got from my water testing kit. Now, take into consideration that I do not have professional equipment at home that enables me to measure as accurately as the flow water reading of Fluoride (0.112). I wish, though. I welcome any free kits! I will test any water (purchase them myself too) if I get supplied with professional water testing kits!

Side note, pure water is supposed to be at 7.0 pH.



Water Testing

Water Source TDS
p.p.m.
Brome
0 - 20
Free Chlorine (ions)
0 - 10
Alkalini-ty
0 - 240
pH between
6.2 - 8.4
Hardness
0 - 1000
Tap 479 <1
(0 or close)
<0.50
(0 or close)
240 8.4 0 (softened)
Filtered 55 <1
(0 or close)
<0.50
(0 or close)
40 ~7.5 0
Filtered
+
minerals
70 <1
(0 or close)
<0.50
(0 or close)
~65 ~7 ~75
ethos 91 <1
(0 or close)
<0.50
(0 or close)
0 ~6.6 ~10
flow 262 <1
(0 or close)
<.50
(0 or close)
~220 ~8.2 250
Fiji 135 <1
(0 or close)
<0.50
(0 or close)
~160 ~8.1 100
Happy 138 <1
(0 or close)
<0.50
(0 or close)
~20 ~7.7 180

After compiling data and tasting each infusion, I found that the Happy water and ethos water gave the best tea taste. This was really disappointing as they were the ones with little released info. However, I did find a link between alkalinity and tea taste. It seems that the lower the alkalinity, the better the taste. While alkaline water may be good for you to drink, it plays poorly when making tea. 

Both waters had very different hardness levels, and the pH values differed by 1.2. I wish I had more information on Potassium and Magnesium for the ethos water to compare against Happy's. Maybe Happy's added ozone did the trick?

Next is the tea tasting portion.

As mentioned, I used Gyokuro Tamahomare for the tests. If you have heard of this tea (or not) you may wonder why this specific one as it is quite expensive. I have many reasons...

This particular gyokuro is of incredible quality and fantastic in terms of taste. Prepared by the Camellia Sinensis in Montreal, I have not found its equivalent. It transports me on the salty shores of the sea where a fresh wind comes down the nearby mountain, only to melt into the rolling waves full of green seaweeds.
Being such a refine product and knowing it well enough, I figured it would do well pitted against the best and worst water sources I had to offer. And it did not disappoint.

The method used was the zhong (Gaiwan), water at 70°C, 5g and steeped for 30 seconds. The only exception is the tap water. I used about 1.7g and decreased the water amount. In terms of proportions, I believe I calculated right, but you'll see what happened to the taste...

Filtered water with minerals

Colour
Clear & shiny
Algae green with some yellow

Smell:
Buttery with cooked vegetables

Taste:
Smooth, oily (coats the mouth)
Almost no astringency
Buttery
Mussels

Rating: Good


ethos water

Colour
A little cloudy but shiny
Almost peach-like green

Smell:
Buttery
Cooked asparagus

Taste:
You get attacked by the sweetness of it!
It has more life and vivacity than any other tested teas
Even less astringency than the filtered + minerals water tea
Rounder than filtered + minerals water tea
Less mussels, more seaweed

Rating: Great


flow water

Colour
Very cloudy but shiny
Peach-yellow with light green

Smell:
Light buttery aroma like it has been muted a little
Sweetness (unknown)

Taste:
More watery than previous tested teas, less bodied
Buttery with sweetness
Mild astringency
Marine
Slight mineral after taste

Rating: Not so good


Fiji water

Colour
Clear & shiny
Peachy light green

Smell:
Buttery, with a light chocolate richness to it
Light cooked asparagus aroma

Taste:
Sweet and marine
Mild astringency
Less bodied
Flowing, less oily (as in viscosity is lower)
Light seaweed

Rating: Not so good


(Live) Happy water


Colour
Slightly cloudy but shiny
Light yellow-peach green

Smell:
Light buttery aroma with light chocolate richness
Had this powdery dry sencha smell
Light cooked asparagus aroma
Pineapple juice (I was shocked, but yes. Especially near the finish when my nose was a little higher in the cup.)

Taste:
Tasty (I know it's not descriptive, but I felt it was a very full-flavoured tea) and sweet
Some astringency
Not oily
Marine with light mussels

Rating: Great


Tap water


Colour
Strong yellow-peach with green tinge

Smell:
Chlorine
Marine

Taste:
Like a sweet sour dish on steroids
Unpleasant like being forced to ingest a cleaning agent
Metallic
Some astringency
Brown paper

Extra: Please don't make me do this again. Oh please please please!

Rating: Bad


Conclusions? Don't use tap water for your tea, that's why you don't like tea.

Filtered water with added minerals was a cheaper alternative. And unfortunately, ethos and Happy don't seem to like people knowing what's in there.

My thinking is that potassium has an effect on the taste of the tea. Maybe one day I will experiment with my own filtered (+ minerals) water with added potassium and compare. Hopefully, the local grocery store will get new water bottles to test.

Lastly, in terms of oiliness (which I enjoyed), I have 3 potential culprits. Either a lower TDS, lower Hardness or higher magnesium content is responsible. I'm betting on the last two. I personally don't think TDS offers much information that would affect the oiliness of tea. Hardness makes a lot of a sense and magnesium is simply an element I'm not familiar enough with to know. But they do sell some at the grocery store! Test test test!

It was fun and even if it was a lot of work, I did enjoy it greatly. Except the tap water tea.

NEVER. AGAIN.

2 comments:

  1. Tea contains catechins, folic acid, pantothenic acid, caffeine, inositol and other ingredients to enhance human health. Tea is known as "one of the world's three major beverages." In order to maintain the credibility of tea, to promote the prosperity of the tea market, Tea testing

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am not 100% sure if you're promoting your website or trying to agree with my attempt at finding the right kind of water for tea.
    However, since we're there. Do you happen to sell water testing kits that allow to perceive trace amounts of chlorine and be able to tell me what kind of minerals and how much are in my water?

    ReplyDelete