Tea Problems

I noticed this week whilst visiting my parents that the same thing was happening to my tea that happened when I was living in the UK. I boil the water on the stove, pour it over the tea bag in the cup, and then after it steeps and cools, there is a ring of flakey something all along the top.

I assume this is the result of hard water, but is there any way to prevent it happening (other than a water filter)?

I usually just wipe it off before I drink it but I assume it is harmless. And it doesn't happen at my house but we have heavily filtered water here. Different water does make the tea I use taste differently but it's a small price to pay for safety in some locations.

Perhaps it would help to pour the water through a coffee filter into the mug? Just a thought.

I've had this problem with Yorkshire Tea special blend for hard water - it leaves a brown film in the cup and over the surface of the tea, something I haven't seen in any other kind of plain black tea I use.

It may also indicate tea dust in with the leaves. Lower quality teas bulk up the weight with the “floor sweepings.”

filtering the water almost always makes the tea taste better anyway (but dont use anything extreme like distilled water)

to prevent tea dust, u can try "rinsing" the tea bag in lukewarm water first (and then quickly dumping the rinse water)

u could also pay attention to whether the same sorta flakes form w different brands, different brews/blends, and different hard water locales. if the reaction is due to basic calcium kinda hard water, then it should b harmless

Funny, I used to get the same thing when I was living further north. I assumed it was the brand of tea (Numi, mostly, while at work) but we also had very hard water there. It was unsightly, but didn't stop me from making tea with tap water.

I know my Assam teas (the heavily processed ones) tend to be "dusty" but it's not really a film, more like little bits that maybe broke off or were small enough to escape the tea ball.

>6 WeeTurtle: I drink a lot of Numi teas, mostly Aged Earl Grey, Breakfast Blend, Jasmine Green and Gunpowder Green. Actually, I am drinking a cuppa Breakfast Blend right now as I'm typing this! I have never had a "ring of flakey something" from them, so I would definitely lean toward blaming the water. I live in Massachusetts, btw; water's from the Quabbin Reservoir. It's moderately soft at 70 ppm.

When I asked Google about the problem, it said:

> How do I know if my town has hard water?
Signs of hard water in your home include:
White scaling on faucets.
Soap scum on tubs and sinks.
Dingy whites from your laundry.
Mineral residue left on dishes and glassware.

That last sign sounds like the problem described. Does the problem only occur with tea?

>7 TempleCat: no, I've noticed that the kettle has started to scale up as well (and is a pain to clean). That's why I suspected hard water might be the culprit. But only the tea seems to make a flaky ring in the glass. A plain glass of water is ok, other mixed beverages are ok. I'm going to try running it through a coffee filter on my next visit and see if that helps.

On a side note, I have noticed that there are no instances of sour stomach/ heartburn (i.e. in need of Tums) from overbrewed tea with this water... so that's a small plus. :)

>5 sashame: I tried rinsing the tea bag under the tap in hot water, and the tea was much more palatable, leaving just a faint ring of brown round the top edge of my mug, no scummy layer floating on the surface.
We do have hard water, which is why I bought the Yorkshire tea "special hard water" version but was very disappointed with it.

You can buy kettle protectors (e.g. https://www.lakeland.co.uk/25334/Lakeland-Kettle-Protector) to help prevent limescale buildup. I've believe that the film is a combination of calcium carbonate form the water and tannin from the tea. I associate with teabag tea that contains a high percentage of Indian teas which are higher in tannin, I've noticed that I don't see the same with China teas even with the same kettle/water.

Not sure how the hardness rating works but looking up the places I've lived, where I am now ranges from 2 to 60, and up north where I noticed the scumminess is average 200. We'd use CLR on the coffee makers etc. at least once a year and likely more. You could see calcium deposits on the shower heads.