Standard of water for making coffee – What is the perfect coffee water?
Coffee water is an often forgotten element while people are trying to make a good cup of coffee. This makes no sense because it is an important ingredient that determines the taste of coffee. What is perfect coffee water?
Standards of coffee water
Many people used to think that the purer the water, the better the finished cup of coffee. However, the results of several comprehensive studies suggest that the presence of certain hard minerals such as calcium and magnesium in water is a great thing. Not only does it help extract flavor from ground coffee beans, but it also brings in different minerals that complement the flavor of the drink in different ways.
Based on the review, the water used for the 2022 World Brewers Cup has the following criteria:
+ Odor: Clean / fresh, odorless
+ Color: Colorless
+ Total Chlorine / Chloramine: 0 (zero) mg/L
+ TDS: 85 mg/L (acceptable range 50 – 125 mg/L)
+ Calcium hardness: 3 grains or 51 mg/L (acceptable range 1 – 5 grains or 17 – 85 mg/L)
+ Total alkalinity: 40 mg/L (acceptable range at or near 40 mg/L)
+ pH: 7.0 (acceptable range 6.5 to 7.5)
+ Sodium: 10 mg/L (acceptable range at or near 10 mg/L)
Those who make their own coffee at home will find it difficult to measure these standards. 43 Factory Coffee Roaster has prepared standard water bottles for you to make coffee.
>>> You can find these products at: https://43factory.coffee/en/water/
Quality coffee water is the foundation of good coffee
Popular types of coffee water
Unfiltered tap water
This is the most commonly used source of water because it is easy to find and is often considered to enhance the taste and quality of your coffee. Tap water quality includes water hardness and chlorine taste, both of which will depend on where you live. For example, if the water source is a mountain, lake, river, groundwater, nearby desalinated seawater or some other source. Each of these sources has different types of minerals that affect the quality of your water and also the taste of your coffee.
Minerals present in water include concentrations of calcium, magnesium, copper, aluminum and manganese. As well as other substances that are slightly acidic and/or give the water a metallic taste. If you make sure your area has a source of tap water that’s completely safe to drink, its taste may still be acidic, metallic, or disinfecting. The latter unpleasant taste comes from chlorine and chloramine used in the water purification process for disinfection.
If the tap water doesn’t taste good, that’s going to show up in your coffee, too. No matter what the best quality coffee beans you are using and the perfect brewing method. Neutral/unflavored tap water usually makes coffee taste rather bland. This is why areas with very pure water will produce stronger coffee flavors. On the other hand, highly mineralized tap water can give you 10 times better cup of coffee. However, it can build up minerals and scale on the bottom of your coffee maker after long periods of use.
Distilled water
Distilled water, also known as purified water, has undergone a filtration process to remove contaminants through steam. However, some contaminants may still be present. This water is stripped of its two essential minerals: calcium and magnesium. That’s why it’s best to use distilled water if you’re using a coffee maker. That will cause less mineral build-up and prevent scaling, one of the possible causes of damage to your device.
Because distilled water is stripped of essential minerals, the taste of the water will make the coffee very flat, sometimes bitter.
Activated carbon filter water
The simplest method to get the best water for your coffee is a high-quality activated carbon filter. Especially if you live in an area with moderate to high water hardness. Faucet-mounted filters will give you delicious water straight from the faucet and you can refill it into your coffee maker. It even removes most of the deposits that prevent limescale from building up in your kettle or coffee maker.
Another method is a filter pitcher that uses an activated carbon filter to remove odors, impurities, limescale and chlorine in the water. This is one of the simple and cost-effective ways to use purified water. The only downside is that they can be a bit slow to filter water.
Bottled water
Bottled water can be anything from purified/filtered tap water to pure mineral spring water. This also means that the content will vary from very low mineral content to very high mineral content. Bottled water with no, or few minerals, is not an ideal choice. As it has no taste or bitterness, while the medium to high mineral content gives the best flavor in a cup of La Colmena.
Therefore, if you are using bottled water, choose one with a minerality (TDS or Calcium + Magnesium content) between 50 and 157 mg/l for the best cup of brewed coffee. If it’s distilled water, choose a brand that says added magnesium and NO calcium added. Magnesium binds and enhances flavor compounds in your coffee beans while calcium brings bitterness to the finished cup.
If possible, avoid bottled water as it is expensive, often filled with microplastics from packaging and bad for the planet. A high-quality water filter is a much better solution if you don’t like your local source of tap water.
The coffee water needs to be carefully selected so as not to affect the internal taste
Does the pH of the water matter?
Basically, water has a neutral pH of 7. However, because there are many minerals and molecules dissolved in water, it can be slightly acidic or alkaline.
For coffee, slightly alkaline water is preferable as it balances out the flavor of the beans and the acidity gives the coffee a slightly bitter taste. Too much alkali and you’ll be left with a tasteless and dull El Molino Buena Vista.
+ Acidic water is great for flavor extraction, however, it will cause corrosion and mineral buildup in your appliance.
+ Alkaline water is also good for coffee in small amounts; too much (pH 8+) will make us not feel the pleasant acidity even though it is present in coffee. The taste is pale, flat and earthy.