Everyone knows that tap water tastes horrible. That is, of course, unless all you drink is tap water and you get used to the taste. For everyone else, the choices are drinking bottled water or filtered water from your own water lines (or tap). Julie from Inspired Water sent me some links to a fairly new tap water filtration pitcher but before I mention any more about it, I'll let you in on some of my experience.
Home Water Filtration Systems
When I bought my previous house in 1994, the first thing I did was to have a full-home water filtration installed. The cost was over $3,000, but that cost included a large multiple stage filter (motorized, it used salt to clean the filters) in the garage, a reverse osmosis unit under the kitchen sink and all parts and labor.
The water supply to the garden hoses, to the laundry room, to the bathrooms (we had three) and to the kitchen sink were all filtered by the unit in the garage. The reverse osmosis unit under the sink was fed the same filtered water. There were two faucets on the sink. One was for the regular, filtered tap water and the other was a smaller faucet for the pure drinking water produced by the reverse osmosis unit.
The filtering unit in the garage would not need to be replaced for 15 years – we sold our house at the 12-year mark. Certain filters in the reverse osmosis filter had to be replaced yearly. I estimate the cost of the filter replacements and the salt pellets (which lasted about a month) to be around $200 a year.
Now that I live in the Philippines, my choices are limited. I'm stuck using bottled water from a water dispenser and I can tell the difference in the showers and toilets. The tap water here is extremely hard. I only drink bottled water and use it for both coffee and tea. I would like more choices, but the other choices aren't affordable to someone like me on a fixed income. Not only that, but availability is an issue. Replacement parts and supplies may or not be obtainable locally.
Kitchen Sink Filtration Systems
When filtering water at the kitchen sink only (as opposed to a full-house system), there are two options. One is a filtering unit that attaches to the faucet and the other is a filtering pitcher you hold under the faucet. Either option is better than plain tap water.
With the on-the-faucet option, you have to consciously change the settings to get filtered water or regular tap water. This is what my older son uses in his kitchen. I can't count how many times people have forgotten to turn the knob to off before washing dishes or washing their hands.
With a filtering pitcher, you don't have to remember to change anything (other than the filter in the pitcher when it needs to be replaced). Filtering pitchers are also relatively inexpensive compared to all other options. The water-purifying pitcher by Mavea is what Julie wrote me about. She provided a link to a Time magazine article, "Thinking Big", which basically reviews the pitcher. She also sent me a link to a YouTube video about a tea challenge comparing tap water to the Mavea water-purifying pitcher and here it is:
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This article was originally published as: Good Tasting Water makes Good Tasting Tea
Powerful message. Makes your realize and appreciate what we have and how the rest of the world lives. Our tap water has been tested "safe" by the local government but there are studies that show a raised level of cancer on Long Island. Some studies have linked it to the water.
We use bottled water from a large dispenser for drinking, cooking and of course, our coffee. I have to have good tasting coffee or I'm not happy.
Wow! nice info on tea. Its very useful to all of us – the tea lovers.
I really do agree that "good tasting water makes good tasting tea" I would also like to add that "good tasting sugar and creamer makes good tasting tea too" lol (I like my tea sweet and creamy).
I like to drink bottled distilled water, I'm a bit picky with the water taste coz I actually don't like drinking water too much so I think bottled water are the best tasting water I have tried so far.