So that batch of water from the last post? I had a couple teas with it, and two things happened – one, it outperformed my favorite spring water, MINISO from Mt. Palomar, California. Two, after sitting on silica beads for a few days, it reached 87 ppm silica!
advanced gongfu technique
There’s a way in which it was smooth and expansive in the mouth that I really enjoyed. The qi was working really nicely as well. We had WWSF 2011 Walong and then some nice Dayi.
Later in the session we had pu-erh.sk rareness 5 autumn gaogan, which really brought things to the next level. There was an immediate shift once we tried this tea, which was full of all manners of ripe fruit. I used crystal geyser water from johnstown, NY, which provided a heavy, lush session.
I’m amazed how my tea life continues to progress. I plan to make more batches of water as it seems to be in a way the best water I can get my hands on. There is no substitute for natural water but truly nice natural water is hard to come by unless you live near a spring or have a well. I live in NYC and have neither of those. It’s encouraging to be able to make my own water from scratch and have emotionally and sensorially satisfying sessions.
If you’re new here, yes, I make water. Is there a better way to say it? Maybe – I create custom water blends from scratch. This means taking distilled water and adding the minerals one at a time. I’ve been doing this for years now! One roadblock I used to have was how to get silica into the water. Silica, or SiO2, is found in all natural waters, but is highly insoluble. I used to use waterglass neutralized with carbon dioxide to get silica, but it caused all sorts of problems.
Years ago, before a water blending hiatus (I still would try blends of bottled waters, but stopped blending waters from scratch), I was experimenting with using fairly pure silica gel beads to get silica. I had no idea if it would work, but I thought it would be possible from what I had read from old research papers on silica solubility.
Yes, the silica gel beads in the packets that say Do Not Eat. They’re not poisonous of course if they’re pure, but they can absorb water from your system and also explode in your body. Here, they’re not being consumed, they’re used as a source of silica to dissolve into the water. First, I rinsed them many times with distilled water until any impurities were gone according to a conductivity meter. Then I made my water blend in the usual way, except I stored it in a jar with the rinsed silica beads on the bottom. Silica gel is in a form called amorphous silica, which is much more soluble than something like Quartz or glass.
I feel like I should say I don’t recommend doing this! I don’t condone the consumption of silica gel in any way – I’m just sharing what I did in my own experimentation.
I asked gemini AI if this technique would work, and it said there was no way, it would take months to even get a measurable reading. I asked it to cite its sources and it gave a bunch of research papers supporting its claim that there’s far too little surface area, it’s not hot enough, and the rate of dissolution is too slow or even negative. Well, turns out the AI was completely wrong! It works extremely well.
Silica Success! Reading after 2 days
Conductivity: 100
TDS: 80
Silica: 43 ppm
Ca:
12
Mg:
4
Na:
3
K:
1
HCO3:
51
SO4:
6
Cl:
4
Mahei 2016 with new water:
This is a 2016 mahei yiwu I got from a friend that is probably young plantation material.
Steep 1 opens with a grassy, citrusy sharpness. There is no astringency and the tea is silky and takes up space in the mouth. The length of flavor delivery is medium-long. On steep 2 I can taste the tea gradually move back through the mouth with a pleasant woodiness.
Steep 3 is round, has some fine astringency, very round, gelatinous like grass jelly. Some bubblegum on the aftertaste. The tea is very smooth and round – not a ton of high or low pitched notes, mostly mid. Great texture and easy to drink. Definitely some elegance here, which is something I go for.
Steep 5 brings more richness, woody and papery resins but with a good amount of body. Astringency is medium now.
Steep 6 brings a pleasant semi aged taste. I’m not sure if it’s the tea being plantation and light in taste and body, or if the water thins out by the end of the session. I should probably try a more serious tea.
New session!
White2tea Gaoshan Qingbing
It’s time to drink the long sold out budget aged sheng called gaoshan qingbing. This tea was always satisfying, and I’ve been storing it at 65% humidity so it’s probably in good shape.
Steep 1 opens softly, with leather, honey and camphor. The tea is very soft, and I must admit slightly flat so far. I would like a little more vibrancy. The qi is immediately very relaxing and enjoyable. Downward and comfortable
Steep 2: The delivery of taste is elegant, mostly low tones vibrating throughout the mouth. Very good mouth cooling on the aftertaste. Thickness is a solid medium. Plenty of bitter potency, low astringency. There is also a crisp acidity on the tongue. Overall there is an impression of woody fruity menthol coolness. You do really have to pay attention to notice the fruitiness though, but once your attention grabs it it’s obvious. Throat is very open and happy. Good for the body!
Around steep 5, starting to calm down into a woody experience with medium astringency. Not a ton of detail but enough to enjoy.
On the scale of bright to dark it was dark, but enjoyable. I have no idea why it turned out that way, but I’ll keep making new waters and learning through experience! The silica seemed to make things more round and elegant. It wasn’t a bomb of thickness that I was expecting, but it didn’t fall apart either. I’m left with a positive impression!
I’ve been having some more tea with others lately – there’s something interesting about drinking tea at someone else’s house- it really breaks you out of some of your habits and perspectives, and you get to try someone else’s water! Everyone does something different, from filtration to mineralization to choice of bottled water. I have a friend who filters nyc tap with a berkey type filter, then adds salt and baking soda – something I never thought would work! Another friend uses Saratoga in glass for everything. I was using everpure filtered NYC tap, but have lately been using many brands of spring water and even blending them together. This brings me to a new idea:
There isn’t one “right” water for tea!
Is there a “right” wine? A “correct” beer? An “optimal” meal? Of course not! The variety of all of these is something we embrace and celebrate. I think for years when I was working on constructing my own water from scratch (which you can read about in many older posts on this blog) I was aiming for a certain perfect composition, one that would work for all tea perfectly. Now, I think this is a flawed way of thinking.
Each water has a certain character, or way of conveying flavor and texture, with different timings and dynamics.
Flavor: certain waters make sweeter tea, like icelandic, Poland spring origin/Saratoga. Some make less sweet, more austere tea, like trader Joe’s small bottles from the PA source. But beyond that macro level, there seem to be different balances of flavor and aroma and different flavors are brought out or revealed entirely sometimes. When tds is too low, you miss out on a tertiary taste caused by interactions between calcium and magnesium bicarbonates with the tea. In semi-aged puerh it’s a warm rich bready flavor (to me). This is probably the wrong word for it. Yeasty? Sounds gross but it’s not. Sweet earth-ish, a flavor you can really chew on. Using low tds like Saratoga or sant-anna, you get a beautiful clear taste but you do miss out on that extra richness. Some waters have 1/10 the amount of flavor as others. It’s striking.
Texture– speaking of, higher calcium-magnesium bicarbonate waters can have a more rich, oily texture. High sulfate low bicarbonate waters are drying and “grippy” like trader Joe’s small bottles. Trader Joe’s big bottles from Tennessee are much softer and thicker in texture, for example. Every water has a different texture – you can group them but they’re all a bit different. This is with tea, I mean. This whole post is about water for tea – water itself is a different story. It’s also true but in a different way. Higher sodium and chloride also adds body and expansiveness and makes the tea more “slippery”. Point is, different waters make tea with different textures in different ways.
Timings – some waters are very quick, the tea comes in, you get the taste, and then it’s done. Other waters form a ball in the mouth that slowly releases flavor/sensation/aroma. This creates a very different drinking/emotional experience.
Dynamics – the qi of tea definitely is affected by water. Both the amount and balance of minerals will affect the amount and character of the qi. Some waters allow you to have a consistent session with a tea from first to last steep – others will cause the tea to change flavor a lot more mid-session. Seriously!
It all sounds overwhelming!
Yeah, but it’s not meant to be reduced down. Tea reveals waters’ diversity and beauty. Water and tea help each other to speak. So, it’s just a natural variety!
There is no one right water for tea. BUT! Some waters are better than others.
“Some waters are better than others” is a phrase that suggests an easy, definitive “spec” that you would go for. But really, it’s just like tea, wine, music etc. – there are ranges of waters that are better or worse for different reasons, and will result in a subjective-to-arguably-objective holistic order of preference for different situations. It’s part of the art of tea I guess, how we choose different pots, cups, pitchers, chabus and build a map of all our tea experiences and memories.
–
I think the reason why water is usually overlooked is it’s seen as a problem to be solved. There’s a certain ennui to being like, goddammit I have to go buy some water filter, or minerals, or RO, or go spend even more money on bottled water which I don’t even know will be good or bad… but when seen as part of the exploration and joy of tea, it opens up a world of variety, trains your palate, and honestly makes you appreciate nature, as water is the fundamental natural substance that helps bring life to tea in the first place.
A HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to sjt from https://therhymingleaf.info/ and Sara from https://italianteasociety.com/ for smuggling this water to me. Sara stopped by Puerh Brooklyn last Sunday to give me two 1.5L bottles of this water – a common water found in Italy. Water is heavy, so this is no small favor! Sjt has been working on replicating this water from scratch on his blog, which you should definitely check out. Amazing detailed explorations and experiments.
What’s interesting about this water is that it’s incredibly low TDS, at 22, but has been reported by sjt to have amazing aroma, body and texture. How could this be? I was very excited to try it, and it really delivered.
be like the baby, drink sant’anna
Untitled 03
7.2g 110 ml glazed pot
Electric kettle
Water: Sant’anna
TDS: 22
Ca: 3.3
Na: 1.5
HCO3: 11
Conductivity: 37 uS/cm
Silica: 6 (measured)
Arrives surprisingly deep and savory. Already really detailed in the middle and back of the mouth with big aftertastes and a sort of effervescence of flavors on the tongue. Whoa!
The taste is not too strong at all but is very present. It doesn’t attack the front of the mouth but instead hits the whole palate at a moderate pace, about 2-3 seconds after the sip arrives. I can already tell there is a balance here. It seems so textured and rich for a water this light. Compared to Poland spring origin which is more forward and front of mouth (still with body).
Steep 2: vivid, oily, citrus oils, wood oils pungency is there like bright hops (think New England IPA) what’s funny is I’ve had and made many waters that have this sort of arrival, but end up tasting muddy and flat – this holds up that structure without weighing itself down. But it’s not being too nice! The strength of a water like Truth Serum from way back in the early experimental days, so high in sulfate – there must be a good amount of sulfate in here doing its job to deliver plenty of strength and potency. Empty cup aroma is so nice, honey and flowers.
Leaves inside the teapot look happy. Always a good sign.
Steep 3- Really enjoyable and refreshing, full. You can taste the medium -endness of this tea, strengths and limitations. There’s a slight leafiness that brings it down to its level of $68/200g.
Steep 4- You can start tasting how lean this water is, as I’ve reboiled it a few times the texture starts to decrease a little bit. It still rings with very present flavor, very easy to drink, and the texture still holds together. I feel like I can taste layers of fine details. The huigan is ringing and buttery. Astringency is not a problem at all, less astringency than average.
Steep 5- Oily – it really highlights flavors you would usually find in a scotch, and I don’t mean smoky – I mean the alcohol-soluble fruits, peel oils, savory herbs, wood… But somehow here conveyed by water. Fresh and deep.
Steep 6- Qi is definitely there. I have a feeling that when the tea tastes good, it activates and allows the circulation of qi, as well as the focus and attention conducive to experiencing it. But anyway… The tea maintains great structure, tasting deeper into the leaf, as the high notes fade away to a fruit pectin and wood oil kind of experience. It’s sweet, not too sweet, bitter, not too bitter, has tannins, but not too much. I do have to say the arrival of flavor is much more immediate now; pretty much instantly when you take a sip there’s the citrus oils being presented. There’s a little peach juice too that comes later.
Later steeps- simply fades out elegantly. Some heavier waters make the tea go a bit off tasting in late steeps, but this water simply has nice, sweet, quiet late steeps.
From this session, I can tell – this water is definitely the type I look for, but on the lightest possible end of that. It’s amazing what it does with so few minerals and I believe everything here is in balance, with enough silica and good dissolved gases to be just as water should be. It makes me think my previous experiments are not too far off track. It’s just so pure and precise, and I love how it delivers every aspect of the tea. I’m very excited to try it with some mid-aged puers, like 2016 Treachery pt. 2, and also some dancong against nyc tap in a side by side. Thanks again to Sara and sjt!
These are some casual session notes for a water recipe I created as part of my ever-continuing research.
Calcium
14
Magnesium
3
Sodium
6
Potassium
2
Bicarbonate
51
Sulfate
12
Chloride
6
Silica
7
Major ions in mg/L
Tea Urchin 2019 LaoManE
It started out very fluffy and nondescript, and kept that throughout the session, and there’s a strong astringency throughout. However, underneath those there’s a fairly cohesive quality, although it lacks a solid present weight. It’s as if the astringency breaks apart the “ball” of tea that would be there. The astringency is good quality, but way too much. Anyway, underneath all of this is the beautiful citrus-spice flavor, with less bitterness than expected. So… where’s this astringency from? Signs point to potassium, as it’s very common for it to cause astringency, but natural waters with potassium don’t have such a severe effect. They also have different compositions, though.
The body of the tea is really nice, as well as the residual oils. The throat/bitterness is not great, though. It’s too candied and mild, I’d prefer some deeper yun and stronger bitterness from this tea. Why is the bitterness so low? There’s plenty of sulfate, so it should be high. My only explanation would be an excess of bicarbonate due to a measurement or calculation error. The bicarbonate could be eating up the bitterness and potency. The last possibility is the zerowater pitcher making the water alkaline due to trace NaOH. This would be solved by purchasing a good RO filter.
I came back to water chemistry recently because I’ve been watching so many chemistry videos on YouTube – I realized that although the chemistry in mineralizing water is fairly simple, the work itself, the trial and error, and the problem solving is very deep and interesting. Hearing stories from research chemists made me feel like I’m in the same boat – trying to accomplish a goal and trying different ways to get there, with no idea when you’ll find the solution.
2012 TU the orchid in valley
Really highlights the woody aspects. Initial taste was not a good experience but it grew to be more engaging with high quality rear tastes and deep flavors with a little heat and acidity too. Very pencil shavings-y. A bit juicy, which is nice. Could be 3x more though. Astringency medium.
2017 YS wild jinggu
Water diluted to 3/4 strength
Immediately smoother, round, still has a weird bitter co2 taste maybe? But a beautiful presentation. It sort of tightens into a slightly astringent finish when I’d like it to expand on release. Overall a nice session.
Some encouraging results! These sessions will give me a direction forward for future water batches. I’m simply enjoying the exploration.
1 Liter of hand-crafted water in a beautiful glass bottle arrived at my apartment last week. This is the new iteration of Untitled by Arby at Empirical Water based on some of my previous feedback on the water. This new version was reviewed by mgualt here. You may remember my review of the previous version was very positive, but I later realized it could use improvements in texture to give a more natural and expansive experience. In the past months I’ve been working on my palate, trying many blends of bottled and filtered waters, getting a better understanding of the range of characteristics of waters for tea.
Very substantial texture. A very oily steep. Tasting older than usual. Rich. Mushrooms, roots, herbs, mint, strength. Huigan (aftertaste echo on the breath) is sweet bubblegum and lemony root beer. Qi is warming and uplifting.
While I drink this, a huge, dense, dark thunderstorm started – I wonder if nature is mad that we’re taking over its job? Regardless, nature is making water too.
Steep 2:
A longer steep around 25 sec: seriously good delivery. Very detailed and smooth. Prolonged expression of flavors. There’s definitely a sense that this favors dark, sweet flavors, but does so in a satisfying, forward-enough way. Specifically, there’s a sweetness on the front of the tongue that is distinct and vivid, coincident with everything else. It’s quite fun to visualize where all the flavors and sensations are happening. Definitely makes the tea feel like a gastronomic event.
Steep 3:
Quicker steep, fairly buttery, a bit watery. Astringency is low-medium. Really long satisfying aftertaste and throat feel, and nice body feel as well.
4:
Watery entry but with texture. It’s as if the tea creates a textural void which is then gradually filled with flavors. It starts with the root bitterness, then the sort of buttered popcorn and honey, then the light citrus and florals and herbs at the end. They are all present at once, but the focus shifts.
5:
More bitterness, still nice rich oils. Still nice thickness but still has a watery quality, unlike really heavy waters that are all thickness and density with no refreshment or space. Simplifying in taste a bit to wood oils, like fresh oak.
6:
Getting really woody now, and something that reminds me of lime jello. Astringency medium high.
7:
Last, long steep
The storm is over!
Not too strong, still nice layered mushrooms and wood and herbs. A bit less sweet, more dry in a nice way.
Trying a green oolong:
Leaf of the east dong ding in 100ml gaiwan-
It’s got a good taste of the roast and a good body and sweetness, but it is lacking that upfront fragrance and refreshing presence. Not the best fit. Still has a nice complexity to it, but a bit subdued. Still enjoyable.
Water rating: 8.2 – great for teas focused on richness and deep complexity, and usable across the spectrum of teas with what I would expect to be varying results. Really nice water that really doesn’t feel artificial. Nicely done Arby!
I recently completed a gallon of water from one of my water recipes, and the result is interesting! I designed it based on the mineral content that I could find of various bottled waters related to wuyi yancha, like Wuyi Nongfu. This recipe is loosely based on loose data, but follows some conventions. These conventions are a dominance of bicarbonate, low sodium, <80TDS, and medium to high silica content. This is also similar to what you might find in Seattle, but just a bit heavier.
This batch was double distilled in glass from bottled Poland spring water, with a bit of fractionation involved. Silica content is 8 ppm. The water was well aerated before bottling overnight and brewing the next morning. I made some Old Ways Tea Da Hong Pao in a glazed Jiri Lang pot.
Initial onset is sweet and gentle, with a lot of the action happening in the rear throat, mineral tastes. Texture arrives a bit thin but some structure builds on subsequent steeps. Aftertaste is very long on the breath. The water does not feel heavy, there is a refreshing quality. A lot of nice sweetness and very integrated roast with some fruit and toasty rocky flavors. Some astringency but not very much. With this water, the tea doesn’t burst with flavors, it calmly settles into them.
Overall, it’s a bit too veiled for me, but worth trying. I’d love to try some real Wuyi Nongfu someday to compare. I wonder how to improve this water – for now I’m not sure, and as usual will keep making different waters and exploring. There seems to be a few things in my water making process that need improvement regardless of recipe, so I’m looking forward to working on those too.
Over the past few months, Arby has been making progress on his water recipes, crafting and dialing in various waters for tea. His online store, empiricalwater.com, is launching soon, and he sent me four waters to test. So much progress has been made and I’m excited to see how these waters affect the tea world. Although Arby and I work separately, and I don’t know what these recipes specifically are, I can tell we have reasonably similar standards and ideals, so when Arby sends me water, I know to look forward to some really nice and fresh sessions. Let’s get into it.
Original:
White2tea 2020 Turtle Dove white tea – 3.3g/50ml gaiwan
This water is definitely aerated:
You can see those little air bubbles forming
Lots of small leaves as it’s near the last of my cake, but it’s a tea I know and love.
Original is a water that is made without a Sodastream, a latruth serum / complex syrup. This allows it to be easier to make and very concentratable.
Turtle dove with Original sips light and floral with a richness and slight oiliness. Immediate first impressions are positive here. The taste of the tea is quite present and fills the mouth. It’s sweet and the floral notes are vivid. I’m struck by the amount of thickness in a tea so light:
There is definitely texture without significant astringency. The tea melts in the mouth leaving behind tea oils that coat the mouth. Am I dreaming?
Now for some critique: the water is very present, but I could see it becoming fatiguing after a while. There’s a slight sharpness to the water, by no means excessive, but it does lean a bit forward. I think this is something many people will like, but I do notice it’s a bit “hot”. Perhaps the warm edition will be more calm in that respect.
I’m impressed right off the bat. Present but not too present, sweet but not too sweet, thick but not too thick, potent but not too potent. Well balanced on the forward side. 8.2/10
Note: all ratings-out-of-10 in this post are Session Ratings – more sessions would be needed to form a well-informed Water Rating.
Original Warm:
White2tea 2021 Fox down black tea 3.2g/50ml
The texture on this session feels a little flatter/more collapsed. Wet leaves smell of fruit leather, raisin and chocolate. On the second steep, a little thickness is building. The tea is sweet but there is a certain restrained or veiled quality. Velvety.
Immediately I think I would rather drink this tea with Original non-warm. The tea has nice structure but it doesn’t have that refreshing quality that I crave. I’d say Original non-warm is more refreshing. Perhaps 20% warm and 80% original could be a nice sweet spot.
I’m getting those bubbles I like. A good sign. I’m also feeling pretty calm while drinking these, which means these waters work well with the body.
As my distillation setup drips away in the background, tasting this water and tea, I’m feeling proud of how far handcrafted water for tea has come. I’m also very inspired to make my own waters again in due time.
7/10
Untitled:
2003 Hong Kong Henry conscientious prescription
This water is an updated version of what I last reviewed. I liked the old version very much and am excited to try the update. This is a water which contains calcium carbonate and therefore requires carbonated water to produce. This increases the labor involved but also increases the possibilities for the composition of the water – mainly a reduction in sulfate, chloride and sodium. Let’s see if it’s worth the trouble:
Wet leaf smells of old wood furniture, grandma’s closet, wet sand, and the like.
I find the tea made with this water extremely friendly and gentle, yet present. Immersive. There is a je ne sais quoi here. Buttery. Huge echoes of flavor. Can’t shake the sensation of butter, like I just ate bread and butter or buttered popcorn. I’ve noticed this with some of my own waters too.
Texture is a different kind than that of Original. With original, there was a nervous thickness and presence – with Untitled there is a calm, settled thickness and presence, with a structured hierarchy of flavors. First, a sweetness on the front of the tongue. Then, old woods on the sides traveling backward. Then, light tannins coating the mouth with buttered popcorn flavor. Then a deposit of aged fruit/citrus woody oils. Finally it all clears away into sweet buttery huigan (aftertaste). Empty cup aroma is nice too.
This is quite elegant, the qi is great, warmth and relaxation. I like this as much as the old version, but this one is definitely different. Very refined.
A gorgeous sencha that rivals many gyokuro. I’ve actually made a couple waters for the fine people at Kettl to try, and got some positive feedback. If you’re in NYC, definitely visit their Brooklyn location!
I find it interesting that a warmer version of Untitled would be good for green tea, but I imagine it has something to do with a texture and umami focus.
As an aside, the smell of the steam of all of the waters is really clean – Arby has a great filter system and probably fewer VOCs in his water supply. I should really get an undersink RO. There is a salty smell to the steam, though- I wonder what it comes from.
Oh baby. Really umami-focused sencha experience. Not as much on the front of the mouth, all toward the rear and middle. Buttered snap peas, sweetness, thickness. Purity. For me, it’s impressive, but it’s not refreshing enough. Like with Original, I would rather use the regular version of Untitled.
This is still an elaborate, pure, direct and complex cup of sencha. On the second steep, that pure leaf/grass taste is coming through. Even a slight dryness that I like. Sweating – this is a lot of tea today! Impressive globular texture for sure. 300ml of sencha feeling like a very significant amount with this water!
7.5/10
I’ve noticed I’ve been engaged this whole time. With these waters, there’s always something new, each steep is dynamic, the tea goes to your core. With so many bottled and tap waters coming up short, these waters could change everything for many people who want to connect with their tea in that special elevated way.
Arby noted to me that the waters are all fairly close in total mineral content, so they are very well suited for blending. This allows you to tune the water to your liking, and experiment, all while being confident your tea sessions will be nice no matter what.
I’m going to be doing a quick water review of Arby’s new recipe he sent out. This is called Untitled – there are multiple versions of it, this one being the most intense, designed for brewing in porcelain. I’ve been working on water too, but haven’t had the time to blog yet! I have been making waters of my own, and also putting together a framework of water understanding that has greatly deepened my connection with water and tea. I’m really excited about this water and that Arby is starting his own company, Empirical Water. I don’t know the composition of this one, so let’s go in blind!
White2Tea 2017 Year of the Rooster
6.7g/100ml gaiwan
Immediately on the first steep, there’s a sense of structure to the tea. There’s a softness and a clean open feeling. This is definitely a low sodium water! The flavor focus seems to be in the middle of the mouth, which is really interesting. Sweet, savory, with huigan.
One thing I notice is it’s not too sweet. On the front of the mouth where you would usually find sweetness with a previous recipe, there’s a more complex bitter savory flavor. Wonderful oils of concentrated puer extract, full of little fruits. There’s a nice power here without being overbearing. I can tell this water is dialed in.
The flavor arrives gradually as I take a sip, revealing different aspects slowly but not too slowly at all. There’s a great sequence to this water, it’s like a song, not a picture. It definitely is making strong tea – the highlight is menghai mushroom notes, and I imagine this would do perfectly for something like Yang Qing Hao or Bi Yun Hao older productions, as well as aged factory tea. The texture is really amazing, I’m sure Arby aerated this somewhat, which is something I should do more too.
As for qi, my body feels quite comfortable drinking this tea, no jitters even though this is very strong puer. My mouth feels fine too, just a layer of velvety tannins, perfectly appropriate to this kind of tea at this age. I noticed the tea really feels gentle in the mouth with a little bit of acidity, so I decided to test: The pH of the tea at steep 7 is 6.5. That is just on the acidic side of neutral, and shows that what I’m tasting can be measured empirically.
This water really behaves quite close to a natural water, which is exactly what I like to see. I feel like everyone making water right now has a slightly different angle, and it really brings to light the invisible truth that there is an endless variety of waters with an endless variety of characters. For me, it’s like tea was made to manifest that variety in the most beautiful way.
NOTE: The recipe was called Simple Syrup at the time of this review, and is now called Complex Syrup to reflect the complexity of the tea.
I just moved to NYC, which is famous for its tap water quality. I’m currently distilling water in glass behind me while writing this review, listening to techno and doing a side by side Tap vs Recipe water review. I’m pretty excited that I can do all this at once! I recently watched a James Hoffmann water for coffee video where he compared four water recipes without a control, and everyone in the comments was quite upset about it. So, I decided to review Arby’s (empiricaltea.com) new water recipe (which I helped a bit on) against a good, well-reputed tap water. Check out his post on it at https://empiricaltea.com/water-recipe-complex-syrup/ and try his 10x concentrate method, which lets you make a concentrate you can then use to make ten gallons! I just made one gallon this time, but it’s more accurate to use Arby’s method. Complex Syrup was designed to be more friendly to drink than Truth Serum, but will there still be flavor complexity? And how will it do against normal tap water? Let’s find out.
The Recipe:
(To purchase the materials you need, please visit the Water Guide.)
Short instructions: in one gallon of distilled or other 0 ppm TDS water, add each mineral one at a time. Carefully weigh each mineral on a milligram scale (not a regular gram scale) and make sure all of it has made it into the water and none is left stuck to the tray. Clean the tray between weighing each substance. Wait at least a minute between adding each mineral. When done, wait 20 minutes for the minerals to dissolve, shaking occasionally. If you have a different size container, use 1 gallon = 3.785 L to convert the amounts. For example, if you’re only making 1 liter, divide every amount by 3.785.
221.0 mg/gallon Baking Soda (NaHCO3)
99.6 mg/gallon Calcium Chloride (CaCl2)
45.7 mg/gallon Gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O)
141.5 mg/gallon Epsom Salt (MgSO4.7H2O)
Recipe
Calcium
12
Magnesium
4
Sodium
16
Potassium
0
Bicarbonate
42
Sulfate
21
Chloride
17
Silica
0
Resulting ion concentrations in mg/L at pH 8.3
Hardness
45.5 mg/L as CaCO3
Alkalinity
34.7 mg/L as CaCO3
Hardness to Alkalinity Ratio
1.31
TDS (calculated, will not measurenearly this high due to ion conductivities)
112 ppm
Electrical Conductivity at 25ºC (calculated, expected to measure)
189 μS/cm
Other statistics
Electrical Conductivity at 25ºC
175 μS/cm
pH (Measured with new fancy pH meter)
7.9
TDS (calculated from Electrical Conductivity error and calculated TDS)
104 ppm
Measurements
Tasting Procedure:
Side by side, small gaiwans, with a bland snack in between sessions.
Session 1: 2020 White2Tea Turtle Dove
3.6g/50ml gaiwan, 100ºC
Early impressions: Complex Syrup sips with thickness, smoothness, florals and caramels coming in after a watery start. NYC water much more watery, with less presence but more quiet subtle tastes. On the second steep, it’s clear that Complex Syrup is steeping darker and denser. Wet leaf aroma on NYC is sweet and light, while on CS it’s richer. Nyc session is on light, sweet hay, some oils. CS is on very complex, sweet fruit syrups, more oils, density. A little bit grippier, but no mouth drying, just some light tannins. These two parallel gaiwans are the same tea, but in the cup, they’re so different. The CS cup is more present – not more forward, just more taste overall. The NYC cup could be perceived as more refreshing.
Please be good water…
Mid-session: The CS cup has the clearest most vivid note of blueberries I’ve ever witnessed in a tea. The NYC tap is more subtle buttery sweet floral hay. A deep throatfeel is also present in CS. Aftertaste is more long-lasting. It’s much more dense, double IPA dense, but still in a full range of flavors. NYC Empty Cup Aroma (ECA) is better.
Long Late Steep: NYC sort of bitter, nice aftertaste of brown butter and various green raw vegetables. CS also bitter, but more concentrated, a bit more upfront, thickness, an evaporating quality, wood oils, syrups (haha), sort of this idea of flowers with muscles (strange). Pepper. Back to the NYC cup, a little bit more easy to drink, but the tannins dominate without much else to engage.
Ideally, the CS could be modified to be more refreshing while maintaining its complexity and delivery of flavors – but this is not simple, and as is, it was very very impressive and I enjoyed it more than NYC tap water for this tea.
Notice on the left, SS is slightly darker
NYC Session Rating: 6.8
CS Session Rating: 8
NYC Water rating for this tea: 7.5
CS Water rating for this tea: 8.4
Session 2: 2008 Tung Ting Yiwu Anniversary
Let’s try a Malaysia-stored aged Yiwu…
3.6g/50ml gaiwan, 100ºC
Early impressions: NYC slightly sour, light but with savoriness, slight smoke. CS savory, smoky, tart, richer. Much darker in color. CS has sweetness, sweet wood, sugariness underneath. NYC doesn’t have that same sweetness and instead has a thin herbal quality. Qi immediately – no way to know which cup it’s from. CS deeper and sweeter. Thick oils. NYC more refreshing, but I’m not sure that’s good for this tea. Perhaps more leaf would be necessary with NYC. Second steep of NYC is still weak and watery, starting to open up. It’s so much lighter. With CS, it’s full force. Perfect grippy tannins, yiwu sweet syrup, and all sorts of candied and wood flavors. CS makes it deliver like a whisky. Qi is definitely from CS, wiggly upward fluid sensation.
Mid-session: NYC strength starting to build, but there’s something weak and eggy about it. I filtered it through a good carbon filter, so it’s not from the water itself. With CS, I’m getting more information, conveyed well. Much better balance than Truth Serum. Present, sweet, clear wood-plum, not sour. NYC is reading sour, while CS is making it not sour. I think, perhaps the increased sweetness in CS is balancing it out.
Long Late Steep: NYC very oily, sweetness and dark fruits coming through, strong woody tannins. Not a ton of tertiary notes coming through – simple. CS very strong. Huigan, fruity, bursting with citrus peels/furniture polish. It’s clear here that there’s more in CS.
NYC Session Rating: 6.9
CS Session Rating: 8.2
NYC Water rating for this tea: 5.8
CS Water rating for this tea: 8.8
Overall impressions:
Wow. The catchphrase for Complex Syrup should be “get more out of your tea” because that’s exactly what I got during this review. I didn’t even think the NYC water was flawed, but then again, I started making recipes in NYC because I wasn’t getting enough of an experience from the tap water. The side by side brought great perspective to just how much more flavor you get out of a well-tuned, well-designed recipe like CS. The mouthfeel was also great, and even when I oversteeped I wasn’t punished for it like I was with Truth Serum sometimes. Truth Serum is good as a tool, but Complex Syrup brings great enjoyment, with vivid, bursting notes across the flavor spectrum.
By the way, NYC water changes all the time, so it’s quite difficult to get good data on it. However, the conductivity was 104 μS/cm. This is about 70 TDS.
Average NYC session rating: 6.85/10
Average CS session rating: 8.1/10
NYC Water rating: 6.7/10
CS Water rating: 8.6/10
More water and tea pics can be found on the tea secrets Instagram! Check out the Water Recipes page for a list of all recipes you can try. The Water Guide is just getting started, but check back for updates there.
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