Water quality makes a tremendous difference in the preparation of your coffee.
How hard is your water?
Mineral content such as calcium and manganese determines water hardness. Extremely hard water will leave lime deposits on your shower heads and inside your espresso machine.
On the other extreme, distilled water has hardly any mineral content, roughly 9 ppm. Using it to prepare coffee will result in an extremely bitter cup. Water without minerals is unstable and wants to dissolve the materials around it whether it’s the copper from your plumbing, electrolytes in your body, or the undesirable qualities of the coffee bean.
As people who enjoy drinking bottled mineral water know, the right balance of solids in water enhances the taste.
So how do I test my water?
The easiest way is to go to your local pet store and buy some aquarium water test strips.
It will tell you the most important data:
- Hardness: Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 90-200 ppm recommended
- PH: Closest to 7.0 as possible
- Chlorine: Closest to 0 as possible
- Iron: Closest to 0 as possible
What does this mean?
Softened water and reverse osmosis water are not recommended for coffee preparation because of the resulting low concentration of minerals. It’s great for keeping your pipes clean but not great for coffee extraction. I have tested water coming from my RO drinking system at 50 ppm TDS. After adding a last stage calcite filter, it tested at 100 ppm TDS, bringing it into the acceptable dissolved solids range.
In summary, if you start with good water and fresh beans, you’re more than halfway home!
Part 1: https://steemit.com/coffee/@justinlaak/why-drink-stale-coffee-part-1
Part 2: https://steemit.com/coffee/@justinlaak/why-drink-stale-coffee-part-2-roasting
Part 3: https://steemit.com/coffee/@justinlaak/why-drink-stale-coffee-part-3-grinding
Part 4: https://steemit.com/coffee/@justinlaak/why-drink-stale-coffee-part-4-brewing
through out your article you have shown the water in glass jar or cup or bottle...the quality of water is clear when we see it in the glass cup or anything with glass...the taste also makes a difference as you don't smell the plastic...nor you have an after taste while drinking the coffee...the best taste of coffee is when you soak it in cold water for over 12 to 15 hours and than drink with ice in a glass cup...there is no after taste at all and the coffee is fresh...and stay fresh for 24 hour...I love the cold-brew ice coffee.
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I've never even considered cold brewing coffee but I've heard about it. It never made any sense to me since I primarily make espresso and the precise temperature is so important in getting the right level of extraction. With your recommendation, I am going to give cold brewing a try!
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You should...I am pretty sure you will not be disappointed...
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Good comparison @justinlaak
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Brewed coffee from typical grounds prepared with tap water contains 40 mg caffeine per 100 gram and no essential nutrients in significant content. In espresso, however, likely due to its higher amount of suspended solids, there are significant contents of magnesium, the B vitamins, niacin and riboflavin, and 212 mg of caffeine per 100 grams of grounds.
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I love the magnesium. So good for the brain.
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Ill just leave this here.
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LOL interesting and very entertaining. Thanks!
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Thank you for the response, I really should put it as my alarm.
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I've been reading all these. Why? I fucking love coffee. Great posts!
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Wow! You're banking on stale coffee!
Coffee has never tasted so good.
Good work on the posts.
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I would also add another piece of data worthy of checking:
Fluoride: Closest to 0 as possible
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Thanks Justin. I didn't know that about distilled water. It seems counterintuitive at first glance, but makes sense after you explained it.
We use a regular filter to try to get out particulates and hopefully minimize some of the municipal nasties, but we don't use RO. I'm not sure how much it's affecting my pull, but I don't get a lot of water deposits... just a bit.
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Love coffee thank you @justinlaak . Do you have any thoughts on the temperature of the water?
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I pull my espresso shots at exactly 93 degrees Celsius for my current coffee blend and this temperature also works well for pour over. FYI, fresh coffee will still have some gases and on contact with water, will start to bloom or puff up. When my coffee just sits there like a wet rug, I know that it's getting stale.
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I live in a part of London where the water is very hard. This article is very well written and informative. Will be testing it your way very soon. Thank you.
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Thanks! I won't drink Starbucks coffee again!
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