by Anthony Megna

Created on: November 08, 2008   Last Updated: October 07, 2011

My wife is a confirmed tea drinker! She drinks at least 3 or 4 cups per day, not a lot , but enough to notice any difference in taste between different teas. She used to insist using filtered water for the flavor of her tea until I tried an experiment one day. First, understand that she won't drink tap water, even though I insist it is up to the standards of bottled water. It turns out that some bottled water is not as clean as tap water! I've been telling her that for years, but she insists on buying bottled water. I think it's a waste of money, but whatever.

So I decided to use tap water one day for her tea. Putting the water into the kettle and boiling it until it screamed and I knew it was done the experiment began. I used her favorite tea bag, let it steep for the normal amount of time, and served it up. She waited a bit and I went to the other room for some reading. In a matter of moments I heard " this tea if terrific, what did you do to make it so good"? I couldn't help but laugh to myself and told her it was all in the steeping of the tea. She told me to keep it up as she really enjoyed her cuppa.

So I continued to make it that way until one day she caught me filling the kettle with tap water. She was aghast and demanded I pour it out and use filtered or bottled water. I then told her what I'd been doing for the past couple of weeks and she couldn't believe it. When boiling water properly, steeping the tea properly, and serving it up there is no difference in the taste. In fact, she liked it better with the tap water. Don't ask me how she can tell the difference because I certainly can't, but she can.

So now that is how the tea is made. She still buys bottled water for drinking, and I drink it as well (although I still think it's a waste of money). Years ago if anyone mentioned that in the future people would actually buy water in a bottle I would have laughed and looked at them as if they had three heads. But the truth is stranger than fiction and the reality is that the bottled water business is a billion dollar a year enterprise. Truly amazing!

When I make my coffee of course I use a coffee filter. Doesn't everyone? I don't want coffee grains in my coffee, but also the filter is supposed to extract any impurities. I've tried using bottled water, filtered water from our refrigerator, and tap water and I honestly can't tell the difference. When the water is boiled it seems most of the impurities are boiled away. Unless an extreme amount of chlorine is in the water or some other chemical, it's tough to taste the difference. So why use expensive bottled or filtered water? Especially in today's economy where every penny counts it's absurd to throw money away on bottled water for making coffee or tea. My coffee is just fine thank you with the good ole' tap water.

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