Information about water assessment in ancient China.

The water that was used in ancient times was considered natural. Natural water was divided into heavenly and underground water.

During the Tang Dynasty, many scientific records were compiled about the water used to brew tea, as well as descriptions of how to test the quality of the water. The earliest standard for water for brewing tea was described by Songweizong Zhaoji (the eighth emperor of the Western Song) in his treatise "Complete Description of Tea" ("大观茶论"): "Good water should be clean, light, sweet, and transparent." Later, people added a new characteristic to these points - "live." Only water that has five characteristics can be called suitable for brewing tea.

Pure water means "transparent, soft, calm and mirror-like". Drinking water should be clean, and water suitable for tea should especially not have any impurities or color. Xiongmingyu of the Ming Dynasty said in his work "Lo Cha Ji" ("罗茶记"): "When brewing tea, the most important function remains with water". In the Song Dynasty, the purity of water was the first criterion for its quality. Only in this way can the resulting tea infusion show a white or slightly green shade of premium tea. In ancient times, people, receiving good water, often stored it for years, not spending it on everyday drinking. At that time, in addition to the rules for selecting good water, there were also methods for preserving it. The simplest method was to use white stones, which were placed in vessels with water and boiled with water. Firstly, this gave such water a special smell, and secondly, it purified the water from impurities. Tien Yiheng said: "Although stones in water may bring foreign smell, they maintain purity and prevent turbidity." During the Ming Dynasty, pressed hardened clay from the kiln that had been burnt for a long time was added to the vessels, which also has a poetic name "Fulongan" (ed.: the most burnt part of the clay in the kitchen hearth, used in Chinese medicine). The purity of water has always been one of the main selection criteria.

Light water. Ancient people divided water into light and heavy, modern people, in much the same way, talk about soft and hard water. In ancient times, this was determined intuitively, now with the help of chemical analysis. "Weighing water" is a method of assessing water introduced by Emperor Chen Long. During his travels, he took a silver ladle with him to measure the specific gravity of water from different sources. He determined whether the water was light or heavy and gave each source a corresponding number. The "spring of jade water" (玉泉水) on Mount Yuchuan in Beijing had the lightest water, in ancient times it was called "the best water under heaven." At present, the spring has dried up, but the remaining reservoir there is called "the first spring under heaven" or "wash water water." When the emperor went on a journey, he often took water from this spring with him "after a long time, with the shaking of the cart, this water did not change either the taste or smell." Therefore, the emperor took Yuchuan water and spring water from other sources, placed it in the apparatus, remembered the position of the water in the container, stirred it and settled it. The other water was heavier and sank to the bottom of the vessel, while the water from the Yuchuan spring, on the contrary, rose to the surface. This was the method of "washing water with water". At that time, it was discovered that the specific gravity of water indicated the content of minerals in the water, which greatly affected the color and aroma of the infusion, which were the main assessment of tea.

Sweetness of water. Mingzhujiang said: "Ordinary water is not sweet and can spoil the taste of tea." When swallowing water, there can be a very pleasant sweetish sensation on the tongue and cheeks, after swallowing, a refreshing taste remains in the throat. In ancient times, rain water was considered the sweetest, Ming Luo wrote in "Description of Tea" ("解茶"): Plum rains (note: March-May) are like opium, with a special fragrance and tonic effect." Such water was the highest grade.

Water transparency. Emphasizing such an important property of water as cold transparency, ancient people preferred to use water from ice or snow. For example, in the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber" in Chapter 41, Miaoyui treats guests to tea and uses snow water collected from plum trees 5 years ago. "A clean spring is not difficult to find, it is difficult to find a cold one...". Usually, unfrozen water is good, water from a spring comes from the deep layers of the earth, so it is not polluted water. But only cold water is the best drink.

Living water. "Living" refers to the source of the water. "Moving water does not rot" - when water is constantly moving, living bacteria do not accumulate, while living flowing water naturally self-purifies. Such water contains more oxygen and carbon dioxide. Although living water includes any gushing source, bubbling water was considered unsuitable for brewing tea. Gu Yuanqing of the Ming Dynasty wrote in "Tea Notes" (茶普): "Water slowly flowing down from the mountains is much more valuable than violently gushing water." In ancient times, people believed that gushing, bubbling water "full of gases and bursting out" does not have medium and pure gas (good air) and is not suitable for tea. Such water is only suitable for winemaking (the production of alcoholic beverages).

People in ancient times, based on their experience, identified these five criteria and compared and evaluated any natural water by them. Here we will consider all types of water in more detail.

Heavenly water

Heavenly water is described as "water that fell from the sky." This source of water is widely used for tea. Heavenly water includes: rain, snow, frost, dew, etc. Snow and rain water are light, clean and soft waters. In ancient times, "heavenly source" meant water from snow and rain, and this source of water for tea was often considered the best. But it was noted that not all heavenly water is suitable for brewing.

Frost and snow

Snow is the energy of the five grains, pure energy/spirit, ancient people highly respected tea made from snow water. There are many poetic verses about tea and snow water. Frost and snow should be collected in the 12th lunar month, Chinese tea made from such water has a warming effect like alcohol and quenches thirst well. Both snow water and frost are very painstaking and difficult to collect and store, so using them for brewing is not at all easy.

Rainwater

Rainwater is very common. Water continuously evaporates from the surface of the earth, turns into clouds and then falls as rain.

When it rains during the Lichun period (the first half of the first lunar month, February), the air contains substances naturally produced in spring that help strengthen the spleen and enhance the flow of Qi.

During plum rains, the humid, hot air causes steaming and torrential rains. Such water helps to clean out accumulated toxins from the gastrointestinal tract, helps to restore appetite and a cheerful state of the body.

Rains during the Lidong period (the first half of the 10th lunar month) are called "Yeyu" (10th moon rain) or medicinal rains. Using this water relieves heaviness and shortness of breath in the chest.

But the main thing in water for brewing tea is purity and transparency. Rainwater has different characteristics in different seasons. The most suitable is the water of the Lichun period, in the autumn period, when the sky is high, there is little dust, rainwater cleanses and tastes pleasant and refreshing; in plum rains: fine windy rains promote the growth of microorganisms, the quality of tea becomes worse; summer thunderstorms: often accompanied by sand and stones, the water is not clean, when brewing tea infusion is cloudy, not very suitable for drinking.

Dew

In the Ben Cao Gang Mu (note: Compendium of Medicinal Substances, 1578, by Li Shizhen 李时珍), it is said that sweet dew is "spiritual energy, a symbol of beneficence and grace, sweet as syrup." Dew is water that forms during the condensation of moisture, it is a shiny liquid containing the aroma of medicinal herbs, which makes tea even more fragrant and beautiful in color. Collecting dew is a difficult task, requiring a lot of time and patience. It is said that in ancient times, the dew that was collected had a very distinct, unique taste.

But now, due to environmental pollution, the air contains a large amount of dust, impurities, emissions, which affect the quality of heavenly water. Therefore, heavenly water is currently not suitable for use, although previously such water was considered the cleanest.

Earth water

Earth water includes mountain springs, river, lake water, water from other bodies of water and well water. It is difficult to assess the quality of earth water, even one source can have different shortcomings. For example, river water near the banks and in the center of the main flow differs in quality, in one well the water at depth and surface layers is also not the same, and if you collect water from different areas, the differences will be even more significant.

Mountain springs

According to Lu Yu, "mountain water is better than river water, and river water is better than well water." Water in a mountain spring moves without stopping, passing natural obstacles, from small streams turns into the main flow and contains a large amount of organic substances and minerals. The water in the center of the flow contains a lot of air, retains strength, coldness and freshness. This is the superiority of water from a mountain spring compared to river and well water. Lu Yu made the following comparison with mountain water: "Mountain water, constrained by stones, flows correctly. Bubbling water should not be drunk, since with long-term use it causes throat diseases. Water flowing in the valley can contain toxins ... ". Zhang Yuan (Ming Dynasty) made a detailed explanation for mountain water: "water from a spring on the top of a mountain is clean and light, that which flows down is clean and heavy, among stones is clean and sweet, in gravel is clean and transparent, on the ground is clean, cool and white, passing through yellow stones becomes good, through green stones - unfit for consumption." The above description is an assessment for mountain water, and also a reflection of the main criteria for water quality: purity, lightness, sweetness, transparency and liveliness.

River water

River water is considered to be quite turbid, containing many foreign substances. But away from smoke and vegetation, there may be much less pollution. According to the experience of ancient people, river water should be taken in a place as far away from people as possible, where the water is lighter and cleaner.

Well water

Well water is also called underground water, it contains few impurities and is very transparent. But the surface layers of the earth and water can be subject to strong influence and pollution, so water should be taken from the deep layers. "Scoop as much as possible" - this is how Lu Yu describes the extraction of living water from underground in the "Tea Canon", Lu Shusheng of the Ming era wrote: "Scoop as deep as possible means taking the most living water", all this indicates that well water also has differences, and there is no unambiguous assessment of its quality.

Water for brewing tea nowadays

The methods of water extraction used in ancient times are no longer very suitable for modern life. Following the development of science, there is no longer a need to measure and settle water for brewing tea. Water has been subjected to chemical analysis, the results of which are the criteria for selecting good water.

Water hardness

Water is divided into soft and hard, water containing calcium and magnesium ions no more than 4 mg/l is considered very soft, 4-8 mg/l moderately soft, 8-16 mg/l moderately hard, 16-30 mg/l hard, if the content exceeds 30 mg/l it is very hard water. Among natural water, only rain and snow water is soft. Calcium and magnesium ions of carbonic acid contained in hard water make the water hard, in such water after boiling and bubbling an insoluble sediment is formed. When hard water is made soft in this way, it is called temporarily hard. With another method, when the water is boiled strongly, on the contrary, it becomes permanently hard and cannot be used for tea, because various mineral ions have a strong effect on the color and taste of tea. Low iron content (0.1 mg/l) makes tea cloudy, weakens the taste, high content affects even more. Aluminum, calcium, and manganese make tea infusion bitter, lead and calcium make it sour.

Water hardness is usually estimated in pH. The pH value is of great importance for tea, for green tea the indicator should be within 5.6-6.1, if the indicator is more than 7 the tea infusion becomes red, more than 9 - dark red, more than 11 - cloudy brown. For red tea the indicator should be within 4.5-4.9 then the infusion will be transparent, with the indicator more than 5 - the infusion becomes cloudy, more than 7 - dark brown, less than 4.2 - weak.

Water quality indicators:

• Indicators that can be assessed by the sense organs: The shade does not exceed 15 points, turbidity (opacity) does not exceed 5 points, no unusual smell, stench, or visible impurities are allowed.
• Chemical indicators: pH6.5-8.5, hardness does not exceed 25 points, iron content is not more than 0.3 mg/l, manganese content is not more than 0.1 mg/l, copper is not more than 1.0 mg/l, phenol evaporation is not more than 0.02 mg/l, anionic cleaning agent is not more than 0.3 mg/l
• Bacterial composition: Total bacteria content does not exceed 100/l, E. coli no more than 3/l

The above indicators are basic for sanitation and safety, the water used for brewing should also be assessed for the content of individual elements.

Commonly used water for brewing

Tap water.

Tap water is the most commonly used in everyday life, usually it is natural water after processing, so it is called temporarily hard. During the ionization process, the chlorine content is at least 0.3 mg / l, so it can have a white suspension and smell. If you immediately use such water, you can spoil the aroma of tea, in addition, after passing through metal, the water contains a lot of iron, which will make the tea infusion cloudy, and the chlorides contained in the water lead to the formation of oily stains on the surface of the tea. Therefore, there are 2 ways to use tap water. The first is to store water in a clay pot: when placing tap water in porcelain, ceramics, you need to keep it for 1 night so that the chlorine completely evaporates, then boil the water for brewing. The second way is to install a cleaning filter in the water tap, thus the water gets rid of the ionite, chlorine and other mineral ions, becomes ionized, which can then be used for brewing. This method is especially relevant in the north of China, where the source of tap water is underground springs, the acidity of the water is usually ≥7pH, after ionization the water becomes acidic less than 7 pH.

Natural spring water

In China, there is a definition for water from sources suitable for consumption: "comes from deep underground sources or is extracted by man, without contamination, contains a certain amount of mineral salts, trace elements or carbon dioxide." Different sources have different mineral composition of water, but only living water without contamination can be suitable for consumption. Mineral spring water is rich in lithium, strontium, zinc, bromine, iodine, selenium, silicic acid and other trace elements. Drinking mineral water helps a person to replenish the deficiency of these elements in the body. But drinking such water can affect a person in different ways. Since water is collected from different places, its mineral and salt composition is different. It is customary to collect clean natural water in clay dishes, then settle for 24 hours, then, when the solid elements settle, the water from the surface can be used to brew tea. You can also use a filter with a carbon core.

Distilled water, mineral water sold in the market (bottled)

Since such water is produced for consumption, it can be directly used for brewing tea. Mineral water is used not only because of its purity, high transparency, tea infusion on such water is transparent, the aroma is clean, without foreign smell, with a fresh taste. There are many brands of bottled water, most of them are suitable for brewing tea and the effect is not bad.

The Right Ways to Brewing Tea

The aroma of tea depends on the tea and water, the temperature and time of brewing. With good tea and water, you can get a good effect. The art of brewing tea also plays an important role. It includes three aspects:

• water temperature
• the required amount of tea,
• time and number of brews.

First, let's look at boiling and water temperature. Boiling water seems very simple at first glance, but in fact it is a very serious and responsible matter. The ancient Chinese left many stories and explanations on how to boil water, fire requirements, etc. There is no way to tell about all of this here. But this experience is worth studying and using.

"Water has three stages of bubbling"

Since ancient times, many experiments have been conducted on different degrees of boiling water. Lu Yu in the "Tea Canon Five Points of Boiling" pointed out that "the bubbles during boiling are like fish eyes", the water makes a slight noise. The first bubbling - pearls are formed along the edges like in a mountain spring; the second bubbling - wild waves; the third bubbling - chaotic waves, when the water cannot be consumed. In the process of boiling, the degrees of readiness can be distinguished by bubbling. In this method, the shape of the waves and the noise are distinguished. Xuci Ye (Ming Dynasty) in "Cha Shu" said: "water should be boiled correctly, when a sound similar to the sound of the wind in the pine trees appears, you need to immediately close the lid, when soft bubbles appear, the water oscillates a little, then silent strong waves appear. This is the most suitable time to use water"

The most detailed method belongs to Zhang Yuan, who described it in "Cha Lu" as follows: boiling has 3 large and 15 small signs (differences). The first sign is distinguished by shape, the second is a noise sign, the third is bubbles. Shape is an internal sign, noise is external, bubbles are a direct visual sign. The following are distinguished: initial noise, changing noise, vibration noise, up to the absence of sounds. For bubbles, levels (floors) were distinguished: first, second, third, fourth and those that cannot be classified. Based on these experiments, it was learned that water needs a fast (strong) fire for active boiling. In order for water to become perfect (ready) for brewing tea, you only need to wait until it starts bubbling. In no case should you boil water slowly or use it after long bubbling.

"Old age" and "youth" of boiling water affect the quality, aroma and taste of tea infusion. What is the reason? This is due to changes in mineral ions during boiling. Most of the drinking water used today is hard, calcium and magnesium ions settle during boiling. This condition does not occur in young boiling water, so calcium and magnesium ions can affect the taste of tea. But you can't refuse boiling. Boiling is a process of disinfection from fungi and mold, so it guarantees the safety of water, creates the temperature necessary for brewing. When boiling for a long time, the amount of air in water decreases, gradually it turns into completely boiled water, which lacks a tonic property. Brewing tea with water that has lost its fresh bubbling can weaken the pure refreshing taste of tea.
In addition, the small amount of nitric acid salts (nitrates) contained in water can turn into nitrites at high temperatures, and when boiled for a long time, the water continuously evaporates and the concentration of nitrites increases, which is very harmful to health. This can also be described in the words: "water after a thousand bubbles have formed cannot be drunk." Water (boiling water) that has stood overnight should also not be consumed.

The effect of temperature on tea brewing.

The boiling point of water is 100 degrees. Usually, experts use this water when evaluating tea, brewing it for a period of time from several to ten minutes. This is a fair assessment of any type of tea. In life and when demonstrating the art of tea, the water temperature is adjusted depending on the variety, because only at the right temperature can you achieve the best taste. This is due to the fact that at different temperatures, tea leaves dissolve differently, and for different teas, the difference in color and aroma are distinctive features, so it is necessary to choose the recommended temperature. To obtain cooler water, the water is cooled after it starts boiling; water that is not boiling, although at the right temperature, is not suitable for brewing due to sanitary standards and other reasons.

All other things being equal (amount of tea, water and brewing time), the lower the water temperature, the less extract (extract) the tea gives off. In an experiment on the effect of water temperature on brewing, with a tea and water ratio of 1:500, 3 minutes of brewing, the amount of vitamin C contained in green tea at 100 C is 92%, 90 C - 89%, 80 C - 82%. But when brewing young tea, high water temperature can fry young buds, making them yellow. Therefore, the water temperature should be adjusted based on the tea production period and the degree of fermentation.

Green tea is an unfermented tea (not fermented). High-quality green tea is made from young buds and shoots, so the water temperature for brewing should be lower. Immediately before brewing, the boiled water is cooled slightly to a temperature called "cooled infusion". For special types such as high-quality Biluochun, the most suitable temperature is 75-80 C, for other young small-leaf teas 80-85 C, green tea of medium and low quality is brewed with water at a temperature of 90-95 and higher.

Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea, the raw material for it is strong shoots, ripe buds and 2-3 leaves. The temperature for brewing oolongs can be higher, to fully reveal the taste and create an ideal infusion, you need to use water at 90-100 C.

Red teas are fermented teas, but this process is mild, and the raw material is soft leaves, so brewing red tea is similar to the method used for green tea, usually using a temperature of 70-85 C.

Black teas are highly fermented, the raw material for them is coarse old leaves, which are very resistant to brewing, so the temperature should be 95-100 C, in some areas, brewing black tea is also allowed.

Flower teas are usually formed by aromatizing green tea, during the aromatization process it is also slightly fermented, so the aroma of such tea appears at a fairly high temperature, the water temperature should be 90-100 C.