Brita Filter Pitcher – Attempting To Fix Boring Flat Tea

I live in the country. Before I was downsized into retirement* I worked in town. My work tea was usually marvelous. In fact, I did almost all of my serious tasting at work.  At home I drank soda in aluminum cans because tea was boring. I blamed the microwave and it turns out it was only part of the problem. The bigger issue is our county water.

The wells the city and county pump their water from are only a few hundred feet apart. The taste is not so close. The waters are pumped in opposite directions to two different filtering plants. Our county water smells highly chlorinated and contains a lot of floating minerals. It tastes bad and it makes flat tasting boring tea.

My wife won’t drink our tap water. She switched to bottled water years ago. I am too stubborn and cheap to use expensive bottled water. There is also the concern of our landfills overflowing with those plastic bottles.

I have fought the battle of boring tea for years. It has become an especially important war to win now that I am at home. Enter the newest weapon in my arsenal – The Brita filter pitcher. This is the simple 5 cup version. It was $10 at Wal-Mart and came with one cartridge filter. The Brita replacement filters are $6. Cheap enough if it works. The Great Value cartridges that I have not tried yet are around $4.

Fresh cold tap water is poured into the top reservoir where it filters through the activated charcoal cartridge into the pitcher at the bottom. That's really all there is to it. You are supposed to change the cartridge every 40 gallons. That involves presoaking the cartridge for 15 minutes and then rinsing before loading it into the pitcher.

So far, I am very pleased. The water is clear with not floaters. The annoying bleach smell is brought under control. I would say it is gone but I really need to wait for one of our bad weeks to know for certain. Most importantly my tea has come alive. Seriously, the difference is day and night. The cup has more aroma. The sip is fuller and crisper. I should have bought this pitcher years ago.

I can’t guarantee you the same results but if you are not experiencing the subtleties of your cup a filter pitcher is an inexpensive possible solution.  I would be interested to hear your experience and solution to flat boring tea.


* On being downsized – at first I was very hurt, angry, and scared. You know what? I survived and learned to adjust rather quickly. Most people complain about their jobs. I did as well. Part of me warns you be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Another part of me has become aware of what a destructive toxic environment I actually walked into each day. Turns out one of the best things the company ever did for me was to push me out the door. I am so much happier and content now. So, thank you!