DogMa wrote:
> My point was that those whose tap water is too pure to make good tea
> don't have to bring home a lot of spring water with a slight mineral
> content. Instead, a small addition of "mineral water" may work just as
> well - even if added to brewed tea (rather than the kettle). The
> preamble was to suggest a mechanism: flavor potentiation, rather than an
> effect on the chemistry of extraction.

I guess I understand, I'm unsure if you are just making things overly
complex on purpose or are on about something over my head. If you are
basically saying that people using "pure" water should just add a tiny
amount of a spring water or water containing minerals to their pure
water *after* it has been boiled to gain a flavor "enhancement" then we
are on the same page... but I'm still unsure of the theory.

Traditionally mountain spring water was used, and I just keep with that
whenever I can as it does produce a better brew... however, I would be
at a loss to say I could nail it if I were given a blind test. I would
think it exactly the same with your proposed theory. I would highly
doubt anyone would tell the difference between the "pure" water and the
one with a splash of mineral water added in at the end.

If anything I think truly pure water would produce the perfect
reproduction of the tea leaf being brewed. Just properly oxygenated
pure water. Water is the one area of tea that I tend to not fret over.
Unless it has some overt foul or strong taste on it's own, I find that
all but the most delicate of teas are going to shine through on their
own merit. But that's just me, and I have no scientific nor Juicy Fruit
experiments to back my claims up

- Dominic