# Volvic has gone need a substitute to feed my L1



## stevogums (May 8, 2013)

Seems to be a lack of big bottle volvic in both Asda and Tesco seems they are only selling volvic flavour water.

My dilemma is I have always fed my L1 volvic on reccommendation .

Any advice on something as good or better please.

2 bottles left and they will be gone by evening I'm estimating .

thanks Paul


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Waitrose Essentials or Tesco Ashbeck? (Not sure if those will taste as good as Volvic - I never used Volvic on my machine) but certainly those brands will not scale up your machine.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Tesco, try 1 or 2 parts Aqua Pura to one part Highland Spring. Or 4 parts Aqua Pura to one part Buxton.


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

pessutojr said:


> Waitrose Essentials or Tesco Ashbeck? (Not sure if those will taste as good as Volvic - I never used Volvic on my machine) but certainly those brands will not scale up your machine.


..... if you are going to Waitress to get "Essential" you might as well pick up some Volvic there.

It was 2 x 6 packs for £6 at the weekend.


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

Everywhere is the same here as well. The local garage sells Volvic but at a hefty price! I've gone back to Ashbeck..


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## S-Presso (Jun 22, 2013)

Used to use Volvic in my frankenstein Classic. Tried Waitrose essential - coffee tastes much better now! And it's much cheaper. Win, win!


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

Rhys said:


> I've gone back to Ashbeck..


i used to use ashbeck ... But moved to volvic when I read on here about volvic being better due to it having 1.2u of this and 0.7u/mg more of that than ashbeck .... After about 3 months I went back to ashbeck. Came to the conclusion that I don't care if volvic tastes better on paper, in the cup I prefer the taste of ashbeck ... So win win, ashbeck is cheaper and I prefer the taste


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## James811 (May 10, 2014)

Whilst I was at home last time I did a few tests with different waters, ashbeck, a different tesco brand which I can't remember, Evian, WE, and couldn't taste much difference myself. I'll give it 6 months or so and revisit the issue once I've become a little more educated on tasting coffee etc. To be honest for me, I just know whether I like a specific coffee or not and can tell which brew methods it suits best and that's my main aim. Just to enjoy some good coffee. Plus, who are we kidding, looking for and buying different coffee is half the fun!


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

^^^ agree

the taste difference in water is absolutely minimal compared to the taste of different beans, different ratios, age of the bean, how much you screw up your shot, etc etc

for or me it makes a far more difference in the ccd or aeropress than it does in espresso ... And if you like a milk based drink, well at that point I can't tell the difference using tap water


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

The taste in different water can be significant, *when you eliminate the other variables*. What you do in terms of recipe will have a bigger impact, I notice a bigger difference with long steep immersions. I wouldn't put Badoit, Evian, Vittel, or in fact lots of harder mineral water in a machine unless you are prepared for a strict descale regime.

Ashbeck, Volvic, WE, Asda Eden Falls all lie broadly within the SCAA guidelines for water, if you can reliably detect a difference go with that, if not...well, then it's clearly not an issue.


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

@MWJB ... What do you use for cold brew ?? ... Only tried ashbeck and Britta filtered tap so far and ashbeck tastes like a different drink


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I mostly use Volvic for everything. Sometimes half & half with Glaceau Smart Water for brewed. At home my tap water tastes like swamp water in long steeps (but it's OK for drip & other fast brews, despite scaling up the kettle).

Tap water at work is fine.

I used nothing but Volvic in my brewing kettle for a year, no scale at all. Half a dozen brews with harder water combinations and I saw scale, if that gives you any clue as to what may be going on in a machine.


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

S-Presso said:


> Used to use Volvic in my frankenstein Classic. Tried Waitrose essential - coffee tastes much better now! And it's much cheaper. Win, win!


Let's see how many bottles I can carry for a mile or two! I kept looking for Volvic but I couldn't find it anywhere locally, so WE is probably the best bet.


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## Scotford (Apr 24, 2014)

I've given up taking RO water home for my home brews these days and gone back to using Brita filtered tap. Massive difference. Main one being that brews are much sweeter but ratio variances have to be much tighter or too high a ratio can muddle clarity significantly.

Its been a bit of another learning curve but one I can benefit from at work.


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## stevogums (May 8, 2013)

Will take a trip to Waitrose tomorrow and as well as getting some Volvic i will try the Essentials to see if i can taste the difference.

Thanks all for heads up.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Volvic / waitrose mix is pretty good for espresso. 50/50


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## iroko (Nov 9, 2012)

I get my Volvic from Sainsburys, all the other supermarkets seem to have stopped selling It.


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

PPapa said:


> Let's see how many bottles I can carry for a mile or two! I kept looking for Volvic but I couldn't find it anywhere locally, so WE is probably the best bet.


An answer to myself. While it wasn't a good idea to try that after a session at gym, one pack seemed like the only sensible idea. I didn't even need to carry it in hands.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

@PPapa I live about 4 miles from a Waitrose but parking is expensive and awkward, so I took an ex army bergen and squeezed in a 6x1.5 litre pack of Volvic and 6x2 litre Waitrose Essential. Plus some other random groceries while I was there. The resultant apprix 25kg made for an interesting cycle home! So much easier to drive to Sainsburys for volvic unfortunately!


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

hotmetal said:


> @PPapa I live about 4 miles from a Waitrose but parking is expensive and awkward, so I took an ex army bergen and squeezed in a 6x1.5 litre pack of Volvic and 6x2 litre Waitrose Essential. Plus some other random groceries while I was there. The resultant apprix 25kg made for an interesting cycle home! So much easier to drive to Sainsburys for volvic unfortunately!


Yeah, I got rucksacks ranging from 18l to 45l, so might need to get something bigger next time.

On the other hand, Union Ethiopian is soooooo much better with WE water. I was struggling to get anything out of it and just assumed that beans were meh, but boy I was so wrong. It's also probably the first time ever when I bought still water to use at home. I grew up (abroad) in a town that had perfect tap water and learnt that tap water can be nasty in other places only later.


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