Quality of Water For Coffee

There are thousands of articles in the world about the importance of water. It is a vital liquid on the earth’s surface, in plants, in the human body, in short, everywhere. Of course, it occupies a very important place in the coffee we sip from our glass every day because approximately 98% of every coffee you brew consists of water. Water is such an important factor in coffee that if we don’t pay attention to its quality, believe me, neither the quality of the quality coffee beans we buy, the way we roast it, or the way we brew it matters. As I mentioned in my previous articles, there are many factors that make a coffee perfect. In this article, I will talk about the quality of water for coffee and what you should pay attention to when brewing your coffee at home, in your office or wherever it is. Let’s start.

Check The Quality of Your Water

The first thing to do is test the water you routinely brew coffee with. There are various test kits available on the market or online to test your water. These are not very expensive or complex tests anyway. In order to use the kits you have already purchased, you will also find instructions on how to use them inside the package.

Of course, you can also do this test by tasting. Of course, it will not provide you with chemical data, but it will still show you the differences in terms of taste. Brew in 2 different glasses using the mug method. The amount of coffee you will use, the grind, the type of coffee bean, and the amount of water should be the same. Use instant water in one glass and use it in the other glass if you want to test your tap water. Taste for both after brewing. Thus, you can notice tastes that you have not noticed in coffee before.

Minerals, metals, and salts in your water that will affect your coffee brewing are invisible and cannot be perceived by taste. Your coffee brewing water should be absolutely clear and odorless. Of course, the taste of water may vary from region to region. Even the main pipes in the area can affect this. While some areas have clean and soft water, some areas may have high chlorine content or flavors of other chemicals.

But remember, if the water in your area is very hard, it is highly saturated with the minerals it contains. In this case, it can draw the coffee less during brewing and offer you a thinner and weaker brew. In order to avoid this situation, you can increase the amount of flavor and saturation you will get from coffee by using high doses of coffee and grinding your coffee finer.

If we consider the opposite of this situation, if there is not enough mineral in the water and if the water is too soft, it can overwhelm your coffee during brewing and cause the undesirable elements in the structure of the coffee bean to dissolve. This causes your coffee to taste bitter or sour. As you can see, everything is in balance in water as in life.

Improve The Quality of Your Water For Coffee

If you are not sure about the quality of your water and you do not want to use bottled water while brewing your coffee, there are a few solutions for you.

The first is a domestic water filter. If you are someone who consumes coffee on a daily basis and you want your coffee to be of high quality and delicious, believe me, it will be a very sensible investment for you. This water filter connects to the tap water in your home or office and passes your water through various filters for you, giving you delicious water.
The 2nd option is simpler to use, buying a jug with a replaceable carbon filter. This option is slightly more budget-friendly than the first option and is preferred by many. You fill the amount of water you will consume daily from your tap water into the jug, and every time you want to fill your glass with water, the water flowing from the jug passes through a certain filter.

Definitely switching from tap or bottled water to filtered water is one of the easiest ways to improve the quality of the coffee you brew at home or in your office. In fact, for most consumers, this flavor difference in coffee comes as a surprise.

How The Chemistry of The Water In Your Coffee Should Be

There are a few terms and information you need to know if we’re going to approach it a little chemically. Let’s take a look at these.

ppm: Without going into too much detail, you can keep this term in mind as the hardness or softness of the water. Since groundwater is more in contact with minerals, it is generally harder than surface waters. What did we say about the softness of water? If your water is too soft, we won’t be able to get a very tasty coffee. If the hardness of your water is in the range of 60-70 ppm, it would be good. Keep in mind that the ideal ppm range for brewing espresso is 50-80 ppm.

pH: A term that indicates the acidity or alkalinity of your water. Basically, water is neutral so it has a pH value of 7. The higher the pH value, the stronger the aroma of the coffee you brew. In general, the pH value of the water you use while brewing coffee is recommended to be between 7 – 8.5.