# A list of waters for v60 – please help me choose.



## iwobobul (Dec 6, 2020)

I've recently made a topic in New Members section and got some great recommendations about how to improve my v60s. I'm going to start scoring my morning brews in about a week or two from now after I finish moving and set up my kitchen area. Meanwhile I've decided to prep a little to that - get myself a proper pouring kettle (currently researching what to get) and choose water to brew with.

I'm in Ukraine and tap water is not really ok to drink. I use it for steam baths to heat up baby formula, and when I boil it and open the kettle I can clearly smell some very unpleasant notes, and I can't use that water for coffee.

We have a major conglomerate that makes like 80% of water on the local market, branded differently (for kids, for sports, for home, spring water, mountain spring water, etc). They have a delivery service where they can bottle you whatever water you'd like into reuseable 19L bottles. Theit water selection follows:

A.



PH 6,0 - 7,3


Alkalinity: 1 -1,5 mmol/liter


Hardness: 1-1,8 mmol/liter


Mineralisation: 105 - 300 mg/liter


B.



PH 6,5 -7,2


Alkalinity: 0.9 -1,5 mmol/liter


Hardness: 1-1,7 mmol/liter


Mineralisation: 100 - 250 mg/liter


C.



PH 7.7 - 8.5


Alkalinity: 7.6 - 8.7 mmol/liter


Hardness: 7.8 - 8.7 mmol/liter


Mineralisation: 600 -9 00 mg/liter


D.



PH 7.5 - 8


Alkalinity: 2 - 5 mmol/liter


Hardness: 2 - 3 mmol/liter


Mineralisation: 105 - 350 mg/liter


E.



PH 7.5 - 8


Alkalinity: 2 - 2.3 mmol/liter


Hardness: 0.2 - 0.4 mmol/liter


Mineralisation: 350 - 500 mg/liter


F.



PH 6.5 - 8.5


Alkalinity: 0.8 - 2.8 mmol/liter


Hardness: 0.8 - 1.2 mmol/liter


Mineralisation: 101- 190 mg/liter


I can theoretically order all and taste myself, but before I do that I wanted to see what the theory behid it is - I've seen people mention the alkalinity to control the acidity of the coffee. Manufacturer also provides a detailed breakdown of Kalium, Magnesium, Sulfates and Fluorides in each of these waters, but I've decided not to incldue them here to keep the list readable.

I would appreciate any advice on which one should suit v60s best. I mostly brew Kenian and Ethiopian coffees at hte moment.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

B.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

B but not if it contains Fluoride. If A doesn't have Fluoride but B does then A. Potassium isn't really relevant but sulfates and Magnesium might be. Is all hardness from Magnesium or is there some Calcium too? The list would have been plenty readable with the additional information but nevermind now.


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## iwobobul (Dec 6, 2020)

A:

Calcium 20-50 mg/l

Magnesium 5-20 mg/l

Chlorides 8-25 mg/l

Sulfates 5-15 mg/l

B:

Calcium <45 mg/l

Magnesium <15 mg/l

Chlorides <25 mg/l

Sulfates <15 mg/l

They don't provide ranges for B, only max values. At the moment we're ordering A, E and F. I will go with B, thank you for recommendations @Rob1and @MWJB


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## iwobobul (Dec 6, 2020)

I've got around 40 liters of B and am getting used to it with my daily brews.

I am a novice frankly speaking, right now climbing out of the 'valley of despair' if anyone's familiar with Dunning-Kruger's Effect graph, and I started to talk more to local baristas at my favorite coffee places, and they told me that if I brew at 96C I should never let the water boil, because that has a negative effect on brewing and extraction. I have never heard this before, in all espresso videos they always say that water goes inthe the grouphead boliding and cools off there, so I wanted to fact-check this here.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I start every bloom, or brew with water at a rolling boil.

It was determined in the 1950's by MIT scientists that the range for brewing coffee was between serving temp (takes a very long time) and boiling. Wherever heat declines quickly (open manual brewer, like V60/French press/Clever), use boiling. You will lose 7 or 8 degC by the time it mixes with the coffee. Brewing at 96C is a pipe dream for most scenarios.

If you like what they make, do what they do & you'll likely enjoy the result. But, technically, they are wrong.


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## iwobobul (Dec 6, 2020)

MWJB said:


> I start every bloom, or brew with water at a rolling boil.
> 
> It was determined in the 1950's by MIT scientists that the range for brewing coffee was between serving temp (takes a very long time) and boiling. Wherever heat declines quickly (open manual brewer, like V60/French press/Clever), use boiling. You will lose 7 or 8 degC by the time it mixes with the coffee. Brewing at 96C is a pipe dream for most scenarios.
> 
> If you like what they make, do what they do & you'll likely enjoy the result. But, technically, they are wrong.


 Thanks, that's what I've suspected. So all the smart pouring kettles that do any temperature you'd like, like the 96, is that feature useless then? I found that when I brew a bit colder, some coffees taste not as bitter, while maintaining grind setting, ratio and other variables.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

iwobobul said:


> Thanks, that's what I've suspected. So all the smart pouring kettles that do any temperature you'd like, like the 96, is that feature useless then? I found that when I brew a bit colder, some coffees taste not as bitter, while maintaining grind setting, ratio and other variables.


 It's not useless, but it's not necessary either. Coffee brewing temp is the temp of the water mixed with the grinds, there is no brewing taking place whilst the water is in the kettle at whatever temp it reads. Pouring boiling water won't over-extract your coffee, your grind size & slow speed of pour does that.


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