The way of selecting the water for green tea

Shizuoka Green Tea Guide : Tea Blogger (Marie Tsukahara)

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Do you know what is the critical elements of making green tea? The answer is not the only one. It might be the tea leaves, the time of the brewing of tea, the temperature of the water, and so on. Everything is important because the taste can be easily affected by those elements. In this blog, I will give an information about the water. Green tea is sensitive, and it will be greatly changed by the quality of water. Choosing proper water and high quality of water makes the taste of green tea better. 

Next, I would ask this question to make a tasty green tea, “what is the main point of selecting the water?” In Japan, most of place is possible to drink tap water, and it is commonly soft water. The hardness of water changes the color, taste and the aroma of green tea. Soft water makes green tea more clear light green, and the taste is also mild because of the hardness. The scent would be clearer than the hard water. On the contrary, in the United States of America, tap water is not usually drunk by people due to the water quality. Also, some places have the high level of water hardness, so you should care about the hardness of water (it really depends on the area). The difference of the hardness can be seen not only when I drink water but also when I wash my hair. Hard water makes the color of tea comparatively dark green, and the tastes is also different from the soft water.

Let’s see the commerce of water which are sold in the USA. I will clarify them, and introduce the suitable water for making green tea. 

The first water is the “PURIFIED DRINKING WATER” from Kroger. It is just purified the tap water, so the water is comparatively hard.

Next one is the “Crystal Geyser”, and I highly recommend this water. The reason is the soft water, and the hardness of water is the most similar to Japanese tap water. If you want to enjoy the taste of Japanese style green tea, you should try it.

The third one is “FIJI”, and it is natural water from Fiji island. You might know this water because it’s currently popular among the celebrities. This water is comparatively soft water, but it’s not the same as the second water; CRYSTAL GEYSER. 

The forth one is the DASANI. This water is also the mid-hardness, and purified tap water.

This is the pure life water from Nestle and purified water. The water is soft, and it’s in the middle of “CRYSTAL GEYSER” and “FIJI” water. 

The next one, “evian” is the one of the famous water in the world. However, this water has quite high level of the hardness of water, so it’s difficult to make the same taste of green tea as Japanese.  

The last water is the “ICE MOUNTAIN”. This has the lowest level of the water hardness, and it’s from the natural spring. Once you use this water to make green tea, you will be able to experience the mild taste.

I mentioned about the water, and it will be helpful when you make the Japanese style green tea. I hope you will enjoy making a green tea.

 (Tea Blogger : Natsuko Hayashi)