How to fix water

I have a similar problem at work, the water is funky and doesn’t taste good even after filtering. I’ve had to resort to using bottled spring water.

I’m not familiar with mineralizing drops, but someone here once suggested adding a pinch of himalayan pink salt to water to add minerals. Haven’t tried it yet, but it makes sense as pink salt is supposed to have an abundance of minerals.

They actually sell that at my local supermarket.

I have been contemplating this for about 8 months now. First, I’d say pick up some Evian, but Volvic might be better. I have tried tons of water bottle companies and didn’t take marshaln’s word face value (no offense) but yes comparatively I do agree with his assessment and Volvic is now my standard. Try your tea with that and then try not to cry.
Fresh lump charcoal > Brita > Pur. I now go through a huge hassle and need to either invest and some lab equipment or just buy volvic because like most places, my water is not very good. At the moment I have some pure lump charcoal that I filter water through. I go through an entire process and don’t recommend it unless you’ve had some lab or experience working with chemicals. As it can be hazardous to the layperson and I don’t feel like getting you cancer.sorry. But charcoal filtered tap water has been the best tasting for me so far. Brita is ok.

If you have RO water from the tap then I’d say add minerals, however RO is too pure and the water companies already did add some minerals themselves unless they stated otherwise which I highly doubt. Your best bet would be to either boil your water in a clay kettle, and use lots of clay things. But Vegas + heat and clay I don’t think is your best option as the tea would stew constantly.

Pink salt, is high in nitrogen. Hence why it’s pink. So that won’t really have a very wide affect on the tea’s flavor and texture. Table salt is added to teas sometimes to compensate for the mineral stripping effect and alters the chemistry like when adding a touch of salt to a dish, not to taste salty but in order to round out the flavors. If your water tastes funky then it is probably because there are residual organic compounds producing those off flavors. I don’t like brita/pur because they do stay constantly wet and don’t get changed out for a while and so many other concerns scientifically but hey I guess it beats heavy metals and pharmaceuticals in the water. conspiracy theory it’s probably all bull****. And like most studies special interest groups yada yada, anyways, filters suck.

Interested to hear if anybody makes their own water, or what people do.

Was thinking of trying this..
https://www.amazon.com/Trace-Minerals-Concentrace-Mineral-2-Ounce/dp/B000ZMGKD4/ref=sr_1_6_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1488172457&sr=8-6&keywords=mineral%2Bdrops&th=1

Which is supposedly great lakes salt with most of the salt taken out.

The water tastes bad from the tap because of the high amounts of chlorine they put it in.

I do try to brew in a yixing, but that isnt always possible.

It seems that Walmart stocks Volvic, if they do I might pick up a few bottles for my good tea.

If chlorine is your problem then Pur > Brita and then add the minerals after. Tasting in comparison to volvic.

Though try different waters and compare amongst them, just so you can get more of an understanding and taste of different waters. *Marshaln suggestion (also a good idea)

The water where I am is very hard, so I go through filters alot, which is the reason for my bias and strong familiarity with them. They aren’t bad they just aren’t the right fit for me. (sorry to the companies if I was overly critical, they are good for regular drinking water, just not for my tea sessions)

I think if you try a good water against all your teas you might taste something different or more pronounced. Not to say that switching over entirely to an expensive bottled water is a good idea. (I mean think of all the plastic waste.) It’s just a treat and a good way to be more informed about your tea.

I also forgot to mention that I’ve read some people treat their water by putting bamboo charcoal or other clean charcoal (binchutan(sp?) and let that sit in a water jug. I do this to an extent but a little more extreme.

YS sells bamboo charcoal on their site

If your tap is really bad I suggest finding the cheapest low tds (50 – 100) spring water and use that. You can try Volvic as well but it’s pricey

I am rather lucky, for I harvest my water from a natural wild spring that my close friend’s property lies on; however, I can only haul so many gallons. So, I use gallon spring water from the supermarket. The spring water is some brand unique to NYS, for I believe its from the Adirondacks. They run 1$/gal, so its not that pricey.

could try throwing some bamboo charcoal into your kettle with a pinch of salt, supposedly it helped here with R/O water.

http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2007/10/ways-to-improve-water.html