Water:
Coffee's
Friend or Foe??
or: what sort of water do I use to make
Good Coffee at Home?
Simple question, simple answer:
the very best water you can get.
The hardness of the water, the chemicals in the water, even the origin of the water all can make a difference to the taste of the coffee you make.
Hardness
Coffee oils are like any other oil; they do not like hard water.
Having a shower with hard water makes getting a good suds from your soap difficult; same with the coffee flavour... it does not release easily in hard water.
Apart from that, hard water causes scale in the boiler of your espresso maker so, if you DO have hard water coming out of your taps, it may pay to install a water softener.
If you have several electric water heaters, it may even be advisable to install a big one, capable of softening all the water coming into your house.
If that is not possible, install a small water softener under the tap in your kitchen, or a mini version in the water tank of your espresso maker.
The use of filter-jugs, or bench-top filter barrels will also help reduce water hardness.
Chemical and origin taints
Chlorine is only one of the chemicals water-boards add to the water you drink; it is also one of the most noticeable chemical flavours in your coffee.
A water filter will help taking this taint out of the water, and the better ones will be able to remove it completely.
If your water comes from a natural catchment, such as river or lake, or peat-, rock- or sand-bed, it can have residual taints from that.
Most charcoal filters will remove these; a resin filter will also remove any particles which may have passed through the catchment filtration.
Bottled Water
If taking remedial measures is unworkable, bottled water can be a solution.
If you make slow coffee, or use a stove-top coffee maker, or have an espresso machine with a built-in tank, it is simply a matter of pouring the water from the bottle.
Most pump-driven espresso machines can be set up for external plumbing, which allows the machine to pump the water directly from a (big) bottle of water.
Reverse Osmosis Water
Using reverse osmosis water in your espresso machine is not advised.