Brew News - the Yorkshire Tea blog

Little Urn – our lovingly converted ice cream van – has been stupidly busy this week looking after London’s lovebirds and tweeters. He’s been spreading the love of Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water – tea that’s specially blended to give people living in hard water areas, like London, a proper brew. If you’re quick, you can catch him today at Nottingham Fine Food Markets before he flies back up North on the M1. Here’s a quick glimpse into Little Urn’s diary…

Tuesday 14 February: Valentine’s Day

First up, we parked up and served up Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water to London’s loved up couples at Canary Wharf Ice Rink in Canada Square Park from 2pm to 7pm. Heidi and the crew worked wonders warming the hands and hearts of over 200 grateful Valentines with proper brews. There was plenty of canoodling going on between tea sipping and some far from professional skating. Lots of male skaters were trying desperately to impress but only managing to just stay on their feet. There was a big element of ‘styling out’ going on as well as some intentional falling and grabbing. A wonderful time was had by all, including a few couples from Yorkshire, and we left a whole lot of love brewing in the air.

Wednesday 15 February: Social Media Week

As you’ll know, we at Yorkshire Tea are big social media fans. Well, you can’t really have a proper brew without a bit of conversation, can you? Our Facebook site has almost 80,000 fans, we’ve over 13,000 followers on Twitter and thousands regularly read our blog. So when we heard it was Social Media Week in London this week, and that our own social media guy Dom was talking there, we hot-footed it over to Bow Street. We set up camp outside The Design Council right opposite the Royal Opera House. Word of Little Urn’s arrival and the free Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water spread like wildfire via social media, so Heidi, Tom and Liz were kept busy whetting the whistles of tweeters and bloggers. Crissy Rock, who plays Janey York in the hit TV series ‘Benidorm’, rocked up too for a brew too. She absolutely loves Yorkshire Tea and it’s rather flattering to have yet another celebrity fan.

Friday 17 February: Nottingham Fine Food Markets

If you’re in the Nottingham area, there’s still time to catch Little Urn and the brew crew at the Fine Food Markets in the Old Market Square. We’ll be there till late afternoon and we’d love you to pop down for a chat. Come have a proper brew on us!

Sunday 19 February: sshhh!

To round off the tour, we’re calling in on a certain someone in Sheffield this Sunday. Can’t say anymore than that right now though – so keep in touch for more info!

…but were afraid to ask.

Well, not afraid. Just unsure who to put the questions to, perhaps.

We decided to go straight to our source and ask the lovely Sue Ritchie, our Customer Service Manager at Yorkshire Water.

Before we get cracking, here’s some background about Yorkshire Tea and hard water to bear in mind. When deciding which teas our buyers will select to put in the Yorkshire Tea blend, they taste every single one in both soft and hard water. This enables them to create not only Yorkshire Tea, but also Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water, a blend that’s perfectly suited to… you guessed it.

Interestingly, Harrogate, where we make Yorkshire Tea is a soft water area, so Yorkshire Water delivers tanks of their hardest water to us especially for our tea buyers to taste with. We even have soft and hard water taps!

Anyway, without further ado, grab a proper brew and it’s over to Sue…

What is hard water?

Rainwater is naturally soft but, once it falls on the ground and percolates through rocks, it picks up natural hardness minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. The more of these naturally occurring minerals present in the water supply, the harder it is.

Water hardness is the measure of the concentration of calcium and magnesium salts in your water – two of the essential minerals that your body needs.

How come some people have it and not others?

Depending on the local geology, the hardness of the water supply will vary. Water hardness can differ across our region as it depends on the soil and rocks from where water is taken. For example, where water has been abstracted from chalk or limestone aquifers it will tend to be harder – on the whole in the east of the Yorkshire region. On the other hand, water from moorlands tends to be softer, which is mainly in the west of Yorkshire.

It may also vary as we often use our ‘grid’ system to move water around parts of the Yorkshire region as conditions and demand requires. Our unique Yorkshire Grid means that we can transport water around the region to where it’s needed most – for instance, if we’re carrying out work or there’s low rainfall in an area. This can mean that the water hardness is not always the same, as the source may vary.

Are there any areas where the water is really, really hard?

Where we abstract water from boreholes for treatment, the water will be harder in nature. This tends to be in the east of the Yorkshire region around Scarborough and also in the Selby and Doncaster areas.

There is no regulatory standard for the hardness of drinking water, and Yorkshire Water does not artificially soften or harden any of its potable supplies.

What does it affect?

Hard water can cause scaling in hot water systems, kettles, electric irons and domestic appliances and often produces less lather from soap, washing up liquid and washing powders.

What is the scale in your kettle?

Hardness due to calcium bicarbonate is destroyed by boiling and is therefore sometimes referred to as “temporary hardness”. Boiling changes it to insoluble carbonate, which is seen as a scale in kettles or a slight film on hot drinks.  There’s no need to worry though as it’s completely harmless.

Hardness due to calcium and magnesium sulphates, is not affected by boiling and is sometimes referred to as “permanent hardness”.

Sue is one of a team that works with Yorkshire Water’s larger business customers and provides all the helpful service, good advice and assistance we need regarding all water and waste water matters.

So, that’s our water supplier’s thoughts – what about your experience? Leave us a comment about your water. Hard or soft? If it’s hard, have you tried our Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water and what did you think?

You’d be surprised. Until relatively recently, if you lived in a hard water area you’d be staring at scum floating in your brew every time you took a sip. Our Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water helps reduce that effect, ensuring the whole of the UK can enjoy a proper brew. But just how do we do it and why is it something that literally divides the country?

Let’s start with water. The East of the country is mainly hard water, especially the southern end, and the West soft water. Hard water is pumped from bore holes and has filtered through rocks, like limestone, picking up calcium and minerals on the way. So the water is ‘denser’ and creates more residues caused by polyphenols in tea reacting with calcium. Soft water is basically rainwater that collects in reservoirs and has less than 60mg of calcium per litre. It’s this density of water that has a significant affect on the taste and appearance of tea.

So how do we blend Yorkshire Tea for hard water areas? Over to Suzy, one of our team of expert tea buyers: “Before we can blend it, we taste every single tea we buy, not once but twice. We taste up to a thousand different teas a day, once made with hard water and once with soft water to decide which teas will provide the perfect combination of flavor and appearance for each water type. Hard water tends to make tea darker and thicker, whereas soft water makes a lighter brisker tea – so you can not only taste but also see the difference.”

In Harrogate, where Yorkshire Tea is tasted and blended, it’s a soft water area. Therefore, we have tanks of the hardest water in North Yorkshire delivered to us by Yorkshire Water especially for tasting. We have ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ instead of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ taps in our tea tasting room and we religiously test the hardness of each batch of water delivered.

Suzy adds: “The interesting thing about hard water is that it reveals a lot about tea as it brings out any taints, flavours and characteristics that soft water might mask.”

So now you know why wherever you are in the country, you can enjoy a proper brew.

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You’d be surprised. Until relatively recently, if you lived in a hard water area you’d be staring at scum floating in your brew every time you took a sip. Our Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water helps reduce that effect, ensuring the whole of the UK can enjoy a proper brew. But just how do we do it and why is it something that literally divides the country?

Let’s start with water. The East of the country is mainly hard water, especially the southern end, and the West soft water. Hard water is pumped from bore holes and has filtered through rocks, like limestone, picking up calcium and minerals on the way. So the water is ‘denser’ and creates more residues caused by polyphenols in tea reacting with calcium. Soft water is basically rainwater that collects in reservoirs and has less than 60mg of calcium per litre. It’s this density of water that has a significant affect on the taste and appearance of tea.

So how do we blend Yorkshire Tea for hard water areas? Over to Suzy, one of our team of expert tea buyers: “Before we can blend it, we taste every single tea we buy, not once but twice. We taste up to a thousand different teas a day, once made with hard water and once with soft water to decide which teas will provide the perfect combination of flavor and appearance for each water type. Hard water tends to make tea darker and thicker, whereas soft water makes a lighter brisker tea – so you can not only taste but also see the difference.”

In Harrogate, where Yorkshire Tea is tasted and blended, it’s a soft water area. Therefore, we have tanks of the hardest water in North Yorkshire delivered to us by Yorkshire Water especially for tasting. We have ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ instead of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ taps in our tea tasting room and we religiously test the hardness of each batch of water delivered.

Suzy adds: “The interesting thing about hard water is that it reveals a lot about tea as it brings out any taints, flavours and characteristics that soft water might mask.”

So now you know why wherever you are in the country, you can enjoy a proper brew.

We’ve been talking a lot about our hard water blend lately, including giving away 50 shiny new Morphy Richards kettles, each with a year’s supply of Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water (to enter, just click here).

But sometimes talk’s not enough is it?

That’s why we’re also sending our trusty travelling tea-mobile, Little Urn, out on the road. He’s been back from America for months now (yes, he really did go!) so he’s been catching up on his domestic duties!

We’re dispatching him to some of the UK’s hard water areas to give out free brews made with our special hard water blend so people can taste the difference it makes.

Here’s where he’s off to:

Sorry to all those of you not getting a visit this time – but don’t worry Little Urn will be out and about again soon! In the meantime, get yourself onto our Facebook page where you can request a free sample of Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water until 19 Feb 2012.