mayim- water pt. 2

6 shevet 5782

i don’t want to rub it in, but my water is really good. i am very fortunate and very grateful to pass by a delicious natural spring on my way to work every day. but this will not always be the case. one day i will move and then what? more importantly, i care about accessibility and want everyone to have access to great water. so what can you do if you don’t live by a natural spring?

firstly, try to find out if there is one near you. it may be closer than you think. ask the hippies in your town or check out this website: https://findaspring.com/

also, if you cant get to a natural spring, there are things called ‘water recipes’ so you can make/enhance your water. yes, i am not joking. when i first saw this i thought that was the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard. it’s water, how can you have a recipe for water?! i now know it is a very valid thing. good water is more than H2O. spring water, the most esteemed for tea, is valued for a reason. there is something behind the specialness of spring water that makes it what it is. it comes from rain water, which is in a sense distilled water (H2O with zero minerals or anything added, just plain H2O) but then it gains minerals as it travels over rocks in it’s life time of travelling down mountains and into streams. the minerals are what help give water body, texture, sweetness, savoriness, and whatever else the particular environment interacting with this water may lend. this also includes plants, lichens, fungus, and more. water has its own terroir just like anything from a particular ecosystem. the plants and moss along a river bed also contribute to the character of spring water. that is why there are water recipes, to have a way to alter a water to make it more thicc or more sweet or less bitter etc. there are some wonderful tea enthusiasts out there who, unlike me, are very knowledgeable about the world of science and have crafted different water recipes. please check them out here:

https://teasecrets.home.blog/water-recipes/

http://empiricaltea.com/category/water/

something i do want to state is that i am very much against bottled spring water. yes, it is wasteful in creating lots of plastic, that is true, but the most horrendous thing a lot of these companies do is screw over the people who live around these springs and water sources that they seize for their commercial gain. there are lots of easy to find, reputable, and serious journalistic articles about this and if non-fiction bores you, check out the movie tambien la lluvia (also the rain).

but let’s say you are like me and don’t want to buy minerals and make distilled water and do these water recipes. then what? well, fear not, because i am about to embark on an adventure to find low tech d.i.y. ways to have great water. i will test and compare all kinds of different spring waters, filtered waters, tap waters, charcoal filtered water, and yes, i will also taste and test rain water. i will find easy ways to amend water where you wont need to buy fancy minerals from the internet. will this water be good? gosh i hope so.

so let’s raise a glass to water, l’maim, l’chayim, cheers!

xoxo,

atzei besamim

 

 from Tea in China by James A Benn