I sometimes am the first one in my 21 floor office on Monday mornings. And for the most part the building is empty all weekend. So if I want to make tea or coffee I know I’m supposed to let the water run. But for how long? Do I have to let it run long enough to get rid of all the water that’s been sitting around inside the building all weekend, all 21 floors worth? I’m sure that’s a bit much but maybe someone can tell me how much is enough and why.
Also, what about hot water vs. cold water? Especially if it will be boiled before drinking. I’m pretty sure that this has been discussed before; sorry I couldn’t find the thread.
My understanding of the reason you run water for a few seconds for coffee is that you want cold water, which contains more oxygen than hot water, and oxygenated water makes for better-tasting coffee. The only reason I’m aware of for letting water run for longer than the few seconds it takes to let in some oxygenated cold fresh water would be if your building has lead water pipes–the EPA recommends you let it run in order to let out the water that has been standing and absorbing lead overnight. And they also say not to use hot water for tea and coffee because hot water will absorb more lead from the pipes than cold water.
But that’s assuming your building has lead plumbing. Does it?
Otherwise, just run the water a few seconds till you’ve gotten rid of the room-temperature water that’s in the pipes and you’re getting that cold outside water.
Is the water that comes out of the tap not treated, potable, city water? If not, then you need more help than we can give you here.
I assumed that a 21-story office building was on a municipal water supply of some sort, whose water is perfectly safe to drink even after it’s been standing in pipes overnight. I turn on my kitchen tap in the morning and make coffee and tea straight from it without running it first (although the EPA would probably disapprove since we have old lead pipes), but we haven’t gotten sick from microorganisms yet. That’s kind of what we’re paying the Water Department for, yanno.
Sorry if the question seems kind of idiotic, but that’s what questions are for. Believe it or not, the information you’ve given me is new and useful. Thanks.
No, no, not idiotic. I was just surprised, that’s all. Sorry.
Working on the assumption that you’re neither an idiot nor crazy , I looked around on Google and found this. So it’s perfectly possible that you saw some kind of blurb on bacterial regrowth in the water supply go past on the news one night and got the “run your water to get rid of bacterial contamination before you use it” factoid stuck in your head.
I agree with the preceding comments – there is no reason to let it run at all before using it.
But some information on something else you said:
You don’t have a whole building worth of water there. Usually, there are separate water tanks serving different floors.
City water pressure is only enough to supply the bottom 3-5 stories (as high as the city water towers, basically). Beyond that, tall buildings will have their own water tanks installed inside the building to supply water.
In a small building (up to 10 floors or so) there may be a single water tank, often on the roof. City water supplies the bottom 5 floors, and is pumped up to the roof tank, and the top 5 or so floors get their water from that tank.
In a larger building, there will be separate tanks for each group of 5-7 floors, usually located on the top floor of the group. City water is pumped to each of those tanks, and gravity distributes the water from each tank to its set of floors.
This could all be done from a single large tank on the roof, but that is an expensive & wasteful way to do it: it takes a lot of electricity to pump water all the way up to the roof, much of which is only needed at lower floors; and a long drop from the roof will have excessive water pressure at the bottom floors (thus requiring sturdier pipes, pressure check valves, etc. Much more economical to have multiple smaller tanks, located nearer to the floors they are supplying. Also, more redundant & fail-safe: if one tank needs repair, you don’t have to shut off water to the whole building.
You need a filter capable of eliminating any lead that may exist in your water. For hot water, use cold filtered water and a microwave. More water needed? Use a coffee maker. Hope this helps!
I thought that you shouldn’t boil the water. You should heat it just below the boiling point. I don’t know the reason for this, but that’s what I read somewhere.
HAving worked as an EMT, I am more fond of the unfortunate fact that…“That which does not kill you, makes it more likely that the NEXT thing to come along will”
The other reason that you let water run to get cold water and not warm water for all cooking activities is that warm water comes from the boiler, which means not only lots of bacteria (including salmonella which survive boiling just fine), but also often special chemicals (to keep the boiler from calcifying). So warm water from a boiler is good enough for washing outside, but not for putting inside your body.
If you don’t use boiling water to make tea, then you might as well not bother making it at all, it doesn’t burst tea bags but it does give you the full flavour of the tea.
Tea made with hot water is foul, and no doubt is one of the reasons Americans don’t like tea.
I am not a great coffee connesieur, but heard once that you don’t boil the water for coffee as it might “scald” the coffee beans.
To be honest it sounds like pretentious nonsense to me.
Coffee you are not supposed to boil, with the exception of Turkish style coffee. 195-205 is the ideal temperature for brewing coffee and reducing the more bitter notes associated with coffee.
I don’t know what is meant by “scalding” the beans, but the taste of boiled coffee vs the taste of coffee brewed just under boiling is pretty obvious to me.
, I looked around on Google and found