London Water

I'm a great proponent of drinking London tap water, rather than the bottled stuff. So this is not a scare story about London's tap water not being drinkable, nor even that it tastes bad.

This post is about the difference between tap water and tap water that's been through a decent filter. Most top restaurants, for example, will soften and filter their tap water to help improve the taste of everything the water is used with, including tea and coffee.

I took this photo at my brother-in-law's birthday dinner. He's the marketing director of a leading water softener and filter supplier. Before our very eyes, he dropped an ordinary 'builder's tea' bag into each of the two glasses and whisked it out again within a minute. The water in the glass on the left is ordinary tap water. The water in the glass on the right is the same water that's been through his new household filter.

The tea in the lefthand glass tasted like the 'builder's tea' we all know and love. Almost like a pint of bitter, by comparison with the subtle flavour of the tea in the righthand glass. I can't magine what the difference would be with soups, sauces and so on.

We have a filter on our kitchen tap, but I'm told it won't have quite the effect seen above. The challenge is in demonstrating that, which seems to be as easy as making a few cups of tea. Is this the new 'Tupperware Party'?

Anyhow, the humble water filter seems worth considering before spending a lot on cooking gadgets, coffee-makers or fancy tea sets.