Scott -

The fact that high mineral content helps EXTRACTION is well known and DogMa,
I am sure, is quite knowledgeable of that.
The fact that adding tiny amount of salts (literally micrograms) in any form
to ALREADY BREWED TEA noticeably benefits its taste is not at all well known
and if you can provide references to that it would be very helpful.
However, please, notice that we are talking here strictly about adding such
AFTER the extraction, not before or during.

The ability of salt to improve and affect other flavors is attributed to its
ability to make water a better solvent and EXTRACT such flavors during
cooking or chewing, but I never saw any references to salt or mineral
content measured in micrograms to affect the taste of the solution AFTER
extraction

Sasha.


"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> 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 think the effect you describe is very clear and has been documented
> a lot in the last hundred years or so. You can read what Escoffier says
> about how table salt affects other flavours besides just saltiness.
>
> Try a pinch of baking powder, sea salt, or Burton Water Salts.
>
> Also note that tea made with deionized water is pretty insipid. I tried
> that once or twice here (my office has very nasty-tasting water but we
> have a supply of distilled water).
> --scott
> (who misses Vichy water)
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."