You can make green tea with any type of drinking water, but if you are a true tea lover, you should know that the type of water you use has a huge impact on the tea’s final taste.
Key Takeaways
Many people spend money on high-quality, premium teas, but they almost never consider the quality and type of water they use.
Choosing the right type of water and temperature, especially for the Japanese green tea types, is the difference between an average and a great-tasting cup of tea.
Most of us nowadays are not lucky enough to have access to high mountain spring water on a daily basis. When preparing tea, we generally have the option of using tap, filtered, or bottled water.
So, which one should you choose?
The Best Water for Brewing Green Tea
The best type of water for brewing green tea is bottled spring water or filtered tap water that is moderately soft and has a pH of 6–7.
More on the hard/soft water and pH levels of water for green tea in the section after presenting the main qualities of filtered tap water and bottled spring water and why they are the best choice for preparing green tea.
Filtered Tap Water
If you don’t have access to high-quality bottled spring water, filtered tap water is your best option for making green tea.
The biggest issue with tap water is chlorine, followed by limescale and metal.
Therefore, you’ll need to use a quality filter to get rid of the undesirable tastes in tap water, starting with chlorine.
Municipal water treatment systems across the U.S. use chlorine and a related chemical, chloramine, as disinfectants to get rid of bacteria and other microorganisms.
Although these compounds are often quite effective as disinfectants, they might linger in the water supply. Chlorine may modify the smell and taste of water.
You can remove the chlorine from tap water by boiling it for 15 minutes. Don’t forget that you can’t use boiling water for green tea; it will be bitter and unpleasant to drink.
Additionally, chlorine can be removed by using granular activated carbon (GAC).
If you want to remove hardness from your tap water, you’ll need to use a water softener.
Hard water is not recommended for brewing green tea; you should use moderately soft water (more about this in the next section).
You certainly wouldn’t want to use tap water for tea if you don’t drink it as water.
Bottled Spring Water
Spring water is a popular bottled water type.
It is produced from underground water that has been naturally filtered through underground rocks and collected at the opening of a spring or borehole.
If you have hard tap water and no filtration system to remove mineral particles and chlorine, bottled spring water is your best option for making green tea.
There are several benefits to making green tea with bottled water. It’s consistent; you know the exact mineral content, pH level, where it comes from, etc.
The disadvantage is that bottled water may be fairly expensive, particularly if you drink a lot of tea.
When choosing between spring water and quality, filtered tap water, you should also consider the expense and environmental effects of bottled water.
Water Quality and Green Tea’s Flavor, Clarity, and Aroma
Hard vs. Soft Water
The difference between hard and soft water is in the calcium and magnesium concentrations.
Water known as “hard” contains higher amounts of calcium and magnesium.
If you use too hard water, the taste and aroma of your green tea will become weaker, and hard water can also make tea cloudy.
Higher mineral concentrations in hard water might interact with the components of green tea, affecting the final taste.
Soft water is best for brewing green tea since it has less minerals that can alter the final taste and aroma of the tea.
The combination of the calcium and magnesium concentrations, given as CaCO3, in mg/l, is the overall hardness.
There are several hardness categorization systems, but in general, soft water has less than 60 mg/l CaCO3, and hard water has more than 120 mg/l CaCO3.
The optimal water hardness for making green tea is between 30 and 80, which is classified as moderately soft water.
Effect of Water Hardness on Green Tea’s Catechins
Green tea’s health benefits are linked to its high catechin content.
The catechins are the four most prevalent polyphenols in green tea: EGCG, EGC, ECG, and EC.
If you like green tea for its high catechin content, you should think about the impact of using hard local tap water.
According to a 2021 research, catechins oxidize faster in water with increased mineral content (harder) or higher pH (alkaline).
When it comes to the final catechin yield and the development of brown color, very hard water is the most undesirable water for brewing green tea.
Hard water’s high mineral concentration results in alkaline tea infusions. The tea catechins in this situation are unstable and prone to auto-oxidation, which is followed by polymerization into brown pigments.
This explains why green tea made with hard water has a brown hue in most situations.
High mineral levels can accelerate degradation and reduce the extraction of bioactive components from tea leaves.
Softer water is thus the best choice for brewing green tea since it extracts the majority of the catechins and has no effect on the final flavor and color of the finished green tea.
If you live in the United States, there is a big chance that you have hard water. About 85% of the country has hard water.
The US’s top cities with hard water are:
- San Antonio, TX
- Tampa, FL
- Minneapolis, MN
- Jacksonville, FL
- Indianapolis, IN
- San Jose, CA
- Las Vegas, NV
- Kansas City, MO
- Phoenix, AZ
- Salt Lake City, UT
You can check the hardness of the water where you live by entering your zip code at this site.
Water pH
Water has a pH of 7 (neutral) when it is in its purest form.
The pH of water indicates how acidic or basic it is. The scale runs from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Anything greater than 7 denotes a base, whereas anything less than 7 suggests acidity.
Most drinking water has a pH between 6.5 and 8.5, with harder, more mineralized water having a higher pH.
The pH level of water recommended for brewing green tea is between 6 and 7 (slightly acidic).
If the water you use is highly acidic, the tea will become sour. Alkaline, minerally water, on the other hand, tends to diminish or mask the delicate flavor of tea leaves.
Brewing tea naturally causes the water to become more acidic; therefore, neutral water’s pH can fall to 4.5–6 when brewed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advises keeping the pH of drinking water between 6.5 and 8.5, and many states in the United States opt to enforce these levels.
Water Temperature
The temperature of the water is super important when making green tea, especially for the Japanese.
You shouldn’t use boiling water for brewing green tea. Green tea is best brewed with water temperatures ranging from 140°F to 185°F (60°C to 85°C).
Different types of green tea require different water temperatures. Visit this detailed guide on green tea brewing temperatures to figure out the ideal water temperature for your green tea.
If you use very hot water and steep the tea for a longer period of time than suggested, you may end up with a bitter and unpleasant cup of green tea.
As a result, it is critical to use the proper water temperature and steeping time for green tea.
Is Distilled Water Good for Green Tea?
Distilled water is not good for brewing green tea or any other type of tea.
This type of water is boiled, and the resulting steam is collected and condensed back into a liquid.
Distillation eliminates more than 99.9% of the minerals dissolved in water.
Distilled water is incredibly soft water with no or very low mineral levels, it will produce a flat green tea.
As a result, avoid using distilled water when preparing green tea.
The Takeaway
Soft, slightly acidic (pH 6-7) water is best for making green tea. You should opt for filtered water or bottled spring water.
Avoid using tap water without filtering it, and also don’t use distilled water for brewing green tea or any other type of tea.
Distilled water is very low in minerals and will give you a flat, tasteless, and unpleasant tea.
Green tea is also very sensitive to the temperature of the water. Never use boiling water, especially when making Japanese green tea; you’ll end up with a bitter cup of green tea. Water should be hot but not boiling.
Finally, every cup of green tea made with different water will taste different. You can experiment and compare the taste of your favorite green tea made with tap water versus filtered tap water. Additionally, try it with bottled spring water.
You can use the drinkable water that produces the best-tasting green tea for you!
