Never Realized the Importance of Water Quality

[ackvil]

We have been visiting in AZ and have rented a house for two weeks. We brought our own coffee beans and grinder with us but have used the coffee maker that comes with the house. The coffee has been terrible. I thought it might be the water but the house has a softener in it. I tried using water from the fridge that goes through a filter. Still bad. Two days ago I bought a gallon of purified water from the grocery store and the results are amazing. The coffee is now good.

The lesson for me is the importance of good water free of minerals to make coffee.

 

[Edcculus]

FWIW, purified or filtered water from the store isn't free of minerals. That would be distilled water, and would make a pretty nasty cup of tea or coffee. What that water does probably have is a better balance of certain elements. I have no idea what water profile makes good coffee, but I sometimes buy distilled water for brewing beer so I have a blank slate to build my water profile.

Interestingly enough, I have a similar story. My father in law bought some coffee and decided he hated it. He was going to throw it away. Being the cheapskate I am, I said to just give it to me. I can suffer through a bag of bad coffee to save a few bucks. I got it home (2 hours away from where they live), ground some up and made a pot (pour over style). The coffee brewed at their house was bland and lackluster. At my house it had a nice body and underlying sweetness. The only difference was the water.

 

[crfcom]

Ideally, you want 150 ppm total dissolved solids, a neutral PH (7.0), no chlorine, no biological growth, and no heavy minerals or metals. Basically, typical city water carbon-filtered will come close. I use Reverse Osmosis purified water and get excellent results. I wouldn't use distilled water because the water will be too aggressive (corrosive) which won't be good for you brewer or your coffee. Reverse Osmosis leaves enough mineral content that the water won't be harmful to your brewer, and doesn't have the flat taste of distilled.
You are correct, that the water quality seriously affects the taste of your coffee. If you're in the south (Florida, Louisiana, southern Texas, Arizona, etc) where the water comes out of the ground warm, most city water plants are using chloramines to dis-infect instead of chlorine and, in addition to being really bad for you, it will give you a terrible coffee brew, making a quality carbon filter for your drinking-brewing water an absolute must.

 

[ackvil]

Ideally, you want 150 ppm total dissolved solids, a neutral PH (7.0), no chlorine, no biological growth, and no heavy minerals or metals. Basically, typical city water carbon-filtered will come close. I use Reverse Osmosis purified water and get excellent results. I wouldn't use distilled water because the water will be too aggressive (corrosive) which won't be good for you brewer or your coffee. Reverse Osmosis leaves enough mineral content that the water won't be harmful to your brewer, and doesn't have the flat taste of distilled.
You are correct, that the water quality seriously affects the taste of your coffee. If you're in the south (Florida, Louisiana, southern Texas, Arizona, etc) where the water comes out of the ground warm, most city water plants are using chloramines to dis-infect instead of chlorine and, in addition to being really bad for you, it will give you a terrible coffee brew, making a quality carbon filter for your drinking-brewing water an absolute must.

The coffee we have at home in Florida is great. But here in AZ not so great. My son has the reverse osmosis filter and it works fine.

 

[Doc4]

At my house it had a nice body and underlying sweetness. The only difference was the water.

It's remarkable how good "free" tastes.

 

[crfcom]

The coffee we have at home in Florida is great. But here in AZ not so great. My son has the reverse osmosis filter and it works fine.

Where do you live in Florida, Jim?
If it's St Pete, they're using chloramines in the municipal water there and you would benefit greatly from a carbon-filter on your drinking water. Not really much need for anything else, but I'd use a high-end catalytic coconut-shell carbon-block. It does wonders for the taste of the water. I'm in Clearwater, and that's what I use.
Most people don't realize that the reverse-osmosis systems people buy for their homes actually employ one to three carbon filters in the treatment process. On city water, the carbon is more important than the reverse-osmosis membrane, in terms of the product water's safety and potability.

 

[ackvil]

Yes, I live in St. Petersburg. When I return to FL I will have the water analyzed.

 

[Alacrity59]

The message I take from this is . . . if you've never tried your coffee with filtered water or bottled water . . . maybe it is time you do. We all get used to our tap water . . . and when we visit other areas we take a drink and, na, it is not right but we drink it anyway. So which is better . . . I don't know. Try some coffee and filtered or bottled water and decide.

 

[FishenFool]

I use water out of my Sparklets water cooler and get great results.

 

[Mick]

I am lucky that we have very good (moderately soft and very tasty) water here.

I filter the dickens out of it once it comes in the house and have a dedicated "drinking" water faucet on the sink that is after a charcoal/carbon filter.

 

[sc37]

We have been visiting in AZ and have rented a house for two weeks. We brought our own coffee beans and grinder with us but have used the coffee maker that comes with the house. The coffee has been terrible. I thought it might be the water but the house has a softener in it. I tried using water from the fridge that goes through a filter. Still bad. Two days ago I bought a gallon of purified water from the grocery store and the results are amazing. The coffee is now good.

The lesson for me is the importance of good water free of minerals to make coffee.

The water in AZ is the worst. I commented on how bad it is with an acquaintance and he agreed-- he hates traveling there for business because he always needs to find a store so he can get bottled water instead of being able to immediately plop down in his hotel.

My in-laws are in Phoenix...they have a giant water softening system as well as a separate drinking water filtering system. Blew my mind that such things were necessary...

 

[ackvil]

The water in AZ is the worst. I commented on how bad it is with an acquaintance and he agreed-- he hates traveling there for business because he always needs to find a store so he can get bottled water instead of being able to immediately plop down in his hotel.

My in-laws are in Phoenix...they have a giant water softening system as well as a separate drinking water filtering system. Blew my mind that such things were necessary...

There are many places that have terrible water. My ex-wife's parents lived in the East Stoudsburg, PA. Their water was worse than here. First, it had a sulfur-like smell that had the aroma of rotten eggs. The taste was not much better. I convinced them to put in a softener and filtration system which improved the quality somewhat.

 

[Mick]

The water in AZ is the worst. I commented on how bad it is with an acquaintance and he agreed-- he hates traveling there for business because he always needs to find a store so he can get bottled water instead of being able to immediately plop down in his hotel.

My in-laws are in Phoenix...they have a giant water softening system as well as a separate drinking water filtering system. Blew my mind that such things were necessary...

gone are the days of the Sierra cup and dipping up a cool drink where ever you are

 

[crfcom]

The good news is that it costs very little to have really good tasting and safe drinking water. Most people do nothing, and many over-spend. If you live in an area served by municipal water, it doesn't take much to have great water, regardless what city. I've been in water treatment all my life, and believe me, a small investment in water quality can yield some startling results. Good coffee, starts with good water. 99% of what you're drinking is the water.

 

[sc37]

There are many places that have terrible water. My ex-wife's parents lived in the East Stoudsburg, PA. Their water was worse than here. First, it had a sulfur-like smell that had the aroma of rotten eggs. The taste was not much better. I convinced them to put in a softener and filtration system which improved the quality somewhat.

I'm spoiled by living in suburbia most of my life....But you reminded me of a place where the water is just as bad as AZ. We rented a cabin outside of Gatlinburg, TN-- definitely had a sulfur-ish smell to it. Bleh.

 

[Mick]

Bringing this water topic back up as we are up in the great white north where the town maintains and tests the water from an amazing high flow, natural artesian spring. They post a water quality report on it monthly.

We make the "pilgrimage" once a week filling up gallon jugs we keep in 4 gallon milk crates.

Minimal minerals. I've never needed to do an acid cleaning on our Hobbs kettle in the 20 years we've had it. Still looks like new inside.

Very happy with the quality and taste of the town spring.

 

[CurtisB81]

I buy ro water from store for my tea and love the tea it makes..

 

[MarkM10431]

The coffee we have at home in Florida is great. But here in AZ not so great. My son has the reverse osmosis filter and it works fine.

i don't know where in Florida you are but here in Jax the water is NASTY. I buy water from those glacier reverse osmosis machines .. 35 cents a gallon

 

[Mick]

i don't know where in Florida you are but here in Jax the water is NASTY. I buy water from those glacier reverse osmosis machines .. 35 cents a gallon

The city told us we could not swim in our freshly city water filled pool until it was treated.

BUT..... It is fine to drink the water.

 

[ajkel64]

The water in our town is terrible. Hundred year old pipes that the Council are getting around to upgrading when they can. We have just come back from a week away and the first time we turned the tap on when we got home the water came out brown. No water flowing through the pipes in a week to flush out the dirt. We have a Stefani clay water filter that sits on the bench that we pour water into to drink from. The Council here are always flushing out the pipes in the street to try and keep the water clear and clean.