Heaven of Tea

Water is the most important element in brewing a perfect cup of tea. In short, good water makes good tea. Bottled, filtered, freshly drawn or spring water are the best, but your tap water will do as long as it isn’t hard water. The high percentage of minerals in hard water can cause your tea to taste odd, especially the lightly flavored teas.

And the boiling temperature matters as well. Over-boiling water will strip the oxygen out of the water, which makes your tea taste flat. In most cases you should remove the water from heat just before it boils - or at least remove it just as it starts to boil. Different types of teas need differing temperatures; in particular, white and green teas taste best with a slightly lower temperature.

An easy way of getting the temperature correct is the ancient method of determining the temp:

Crab Eye Water: 180-190 degrees
Water shows lazy steam and tiny bubbles, excellent for white and green teas.

Fish Eye Water: 190-200 degrees
Water hisses loudly and small bubbles rise quickly to the surface with a hot, fast steam. Ideal for Oolong and Black teas.

Old Man Water: 212 degrees
A rolling boil. Perfect for Herbal teas including Rooibos and Mate.