TDS meter
A pen that measures the electrical conductivity of water and converts it to an estimated total dissolved solids figure. It is worth understanding what that number is and is not: conductivity reports how much dissolved ionic material is present in total, and says nothing about which minerals they are.
Identity
- Category
- Measurement
- Also called
- conductivity meter, ppm meter, total dissolved solids meter
- Material
- Plastic body with an electrode probe
- Skill level
- Advanced
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Modern, and borrowed into tea from aquarium keeping and speciality coffee.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
A water utility’s published hardness figure for your postcode tells you more than a TDS reading does, because it separates calcium and magnesium hardness from alkalinity. Two waters with an identical TDS number can brew very differently.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Care and maintenance
Rinse and dry the electrode; calibrate against a known solution occasionally. An uncalibrated meter produces a confident number with nothing behind it.
Other measurements
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this piece of teaware against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.
- TDS meter vs water filter jug — Measuring water against changing it, and the measurement is less informative than it looks. A TDS pen reports conductivity converted to an estimated dissolved-solids figure; it does not report which solids, and for tea the composition matters more than the total.