DogMa > wrote:
>Lewis Perin wrote:
>> Hey Dog: It's been a few days since your original post. You must have
>> tried adding Gerolsteiner to your favorite beverage again since then,
>> no? Do we have reproducibility?
>
>Perhaps not by scientific standards, but I've tried the trick on four
>oolongs of very different character, through multiple steeps, and it
>seems to work similarly. Least effect was on a Hairy Crab that actually
>brews up OK in the overly pure local water for some reason.
>
>I'm almost out of Gerolsteiner and don't like it much anyways. Next step
>is to try pure calcium and magnesium salts, and a few other mineral waters.

Before doing anything else, try making a cup with deionized water. It
has a very different flavour to it than tea made with tap water around
here.... really quite boring and almost flat. But get a sense of what
it tastes like.

>Oh yeah, for the nerds and general disputants: I find useful the
>distinction between flavor addition and flavor potentiation. The
>potentiator may have taste of its own, like salt, sugar, or MSG; but its
>effect on the mix will be out of proportion to its intrinsic taste.
>Things like miracle berry or artichokes+milk are extreme examples.

Right, exactly. Salts do this quite a lot, but I don't have a modern
citation for the phenomenon, or any proposal for a good mechanism. I
am satisfied to sit back and enjoy it.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."