My tea tastes of chlorine, metal or the kettle

In short

If every tea tastes the same way, the leaf is not the variable. Tea is roughly 99 per cent water by weight, so anything in the water arrives in the cup at full strength — and a kettle used for other things arrives with it.

Likely causes, in order

Most likely first. Answer the question under each one before moving on — several of these look alike in the cup and are told apart only by what was done to the leaf.

1. 1. Chlorine or chloramine in the tap water

   Water chemistry

   Check: Fill a glass from the tap and smell it. Does it smell faintly of a swimming pool?

   Fix: Use a filter jug, or draw the water and leave it uncovered for an hour before boiling. Chlorine dissipates on standing; chloramine is more persistent and wants a carbon filter.

2. 2. The kettle has been used for something else

   Equipment

   Check: Has anything other than water been heated in it — milk, a descaling solution, an infusion left standing?

   Fix: Boil and discard two or three full kettles of plain water. A kettle used once for milk or for a strongly scented infusion carries it for days.

3. 3. A new kettle still shedding its manufacturing finish

   EquipmentInferred by TeaHQ, not established

   Check: Is the kettle less than a few weeks old?

   Fix: Boil and discard several kettles of water, and run a weak citric acid or vinegar cycle followed by two plain boils. New elements and plastic reservoirs give off a detectable note that fades.

4. 4. Bottled water with a heavy mineral load

   Water chemistryInferred by TeaHQ, not established

   Check: Are you using a strongly mineral bottled water on the assumption it is better than tap?

   Fix: Very high mineral content flattens aroma and can read as metallic. A low-mineral or filtered water suits tea better than a mineral-rich one, which is the opposite of what most people assume.

5. 5. A stainless flask or travel bottle used for something else

   Equipment

   Check: Has the vessel held coffee, soup or a sweetened drink?

   Fix: Steel holds residues in the lid gasket rather than in the body. Take the lid apart, wash the gasket separately, and dry it open.

Brewing methods this applies to

• Western brewing (teapot or mug) — A small amount of leaf in a large volume of water, steeped once for a few minutes and then strained off. The approach most English-speaking drinkers already know, and the one most teas sold in the West are made for.
• Mug infuser brewing — Loose leaf in a basket inside a mug — the most common way loose tea is actually made, and the method most often responsible for people concluding that loose leaf is not worth the trouble.
• Tea bag brewing — Pre-portioned tea in a permeable bag. The format was an accident of early twentieth-century sampling practice and became the dominant way tea is drunk worldwide, because it removes every decision except how long to leave it in.

Related problems

Sharing a cause category, a tea type or a brewing method with this one.

• I bought a water filter for my tea and it changed nothing — A filter jug or tap filter was bought specifically to improve the tea, and the cup tastes the same as it did before — with the same dullness, the same film and the same scale in the kettle.
• There are black spots inside my teapot or infuser — Dark speckling inside a spout, under a lid seal, in the mesh of an infuser or around the gasket of a travel bottle.
• There is an oily film on the surface of my tea — An iridescent or dull skin sits on the surface of a cup or pot, breaking into patches when disturbed and clinging to the side as the level drops.
• We fitted a water softener and the tea got worse — Since a softener was installed the kettle stays clean and the tea tastes flat, slightly salty or oddly soft, with the brightness gone.
• My teapot came out of the dishwasher damaged or tasting wrong — A pot or cup returns from a dishwasher cycle dulled, with faded decoration, a fine web of surface cracks, or a persistent taste that was not there before.

Sources