I live in a hard water area. Until now, I’ve been using a standard water filter like Brita, which has worked fine, but I could never achieve the clarity I was looking for in my coffee.
So last week, I dipped my toe in the world of water recipes. I got myself a zero water filter, read up about remineralisation and made a few litres of coffee brewing water.
I wasn’t sure what to expect or if it would make a difference, but man was I surprised! The difference is insane. It was the missing piece to tasty coffee that I had been searching for for so long. Needless to say, I’m sold now and theres no going back for me.
What concerns me us how much of a pain in the ass it is. I have to have a bottle for the mineral water concentrate, a filter jug for the distillation and another jug for the remineralised water. I don’t know if I want all that hassle every day for the rest of my life.
So the question now is how can I streamline this?
I live in a rented city apartment, so space is limited and I can’t make any big changes like under-sink ro installations. I have looked at countertop ro units, but they’re very pricey
Is there anyone else here who makes their own water? How do you manage this? Any advice for someone who is just starting out?
Some amount of minerals is good, but you don’t want too much. If it’s just for drinking it’s not a big deal, it might just not taste as good. But if it’s going into any kind of a machine, you don’t want super hard water.
When I got my pouring kettle, at the same time I switched over to mineralizing my own water. Tap water has never touched my kettle, only what I formulate. I have not had a single bit of scale buildup anywhere, the inside of my kettle still looks brand new. In a kettle it isn’t as big of a deal but in a coffee machine, especially espresso, scale buildup can cause actual damage over time. Yes, you can use descaler, but it’s easier to just use proper coffee water. Get zero water, distilled water, RO water, whatever, and add mineral packets to it. Saves a lot of time in maintenance and also tastes better too. A win-win.
If you’re using a coffee machine, that makes sense. I just use a French press now. I stopped using coffee machines when I couldn’t easily find one with no plastic parts. I really don’t want my hot water being piped through plastic tubes.
Fair. The only machine I use is my Gaggia Classic Pro, but honestly 99% of the coffee I drink is from my manual lever espresso maker. Zero plastic parts in it. The only bit of plastic in my entire setup is my grinder’s catch cup which I’m considering replacing in the future anyway.
Here’s my regular setup if you’re curious:
