January 21, 2022 admin

A White Paper by the UK Tea Academy on Perfect Water For Tea

We are delighted to present The UK Tea Academy’s first white paper on water for tea.

Water, which makes up to 99% or more of a cup of tea, is an often-overlooked ingredient that has a huge impact on the taste, aroma and appearance of every cup – and up until now it has not been considered in the same way as water for coffee.

Six months in the making, this report highlights the key ingredients of water which impact the brewing process of tea. It will also provide a standard water specification to create the optimal cup of tea.

A team from The UK Tea Academy has worked closely with BRITA to find the perfect water for tea. BRITA has been our partner since we launched the Academy in 2016 and have provided the filters for all our training courses as freshly drawn, cold, Brita-filtered water is an essential part of getting the best from the tea leaves.

Jane Pettigrew, Tim Sturk and Carri Hecks from the UKTA visited BRITA HQ in Germany for the research trip. Working with Birgit Kohler, Brita’s Resident Water Sommelier, in the controlled environment of the BRITA lab, the team explored a number of different waters with varying pH and mineral content and compared them for aroma, taste, clarity, colour, etc for the different teas.

“You did a brilliant job. It took coffee 20 years to arrive at a standard that included specific details about water. You advanced the same for tea by a decade at least.” Dan Bolton, Editor/Publisher