# Water for brewed coffee



## Stu Beck (May 31, 2020)

Hi folks - I'm interested to find out what water people choose for filter brew methods?

My understanding is that softer is better, but most discussion seems to be around brands of mineral water to choose to reduce scaling on of an espresso machine rather than taste.

I use a Brita style filter with tap water and I'm reasonably happy with my brews, but I'm thinking about experimenting with bottled water and would love to hear what options work well for filter.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

If you can tell us what the characteristics of your water are, we might b able to suggest something different?

We're talking more in respect to the make up of the water, rather than following the brand.

A very wide range can taste good for brewed, depending on the coffee (bright ones stand up to high alkalinity better).

Waitrose Lockhills is a good datum. I also liked Deeside for more transparency/delicate flavours, Voss too (but very pricey).

If you get into mixing waters then the world is your oyster, options are so wide it's hard to comprehend...you could while away months.

I mostly use my tap water cut with Zerowater (could be distilled/RO) to give ~50mg/L alkalinity (easily done with kitchen scales), then choose coffees/origins I am more likely to enjoy.


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## Stu Beck (May 31, 2020)

Thanks Mark @MWJB

I'll pick up a couple of litres of the lockhills and see if I can taste any improvement.

The water here is hard:









There is more composition detail available in a report but I'm not sure I should go there at this hour!


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## Nanikame (Dec 8, 2020)

Hi!

I was recommended to use Ashbeck from Tesco for the espresso machine. I have wondered myself what water to try with other brewing methods like Aeropress or V60, probably the first one I would try with is also Ashbeck. I do have Brita filters too but I am afraid for the water hardness in my area it's not enough (it significantly reduces the smell but the smell it's not all) so I don't use them for coffee but rather for cooking. I might be wrong and happy to be corrected!

Interested to know whether you tried with Lockhills and how you find it.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Nanikame said:


> Hi!
> 
> I was recommended to use Ashbeck from Tesco for the espresso machine. I have wondered myself what water to try with other brewing methods like Aeropress or V60, probably the first one I would try with is also Ashbeck. I do have Brita filters too but I am afraid for the water hardness in my area it's not enough (it significantly reduces the smell but the smell it's not all) so I don't use them for coffee but rather for cooking. I might be wrong and happy to be corrected!
> 
> Interested to know whether you tried with Lockhills and how you find it.


 Yes, I have brewed with Lockhills and it is fine. You have a wider choice with brewed coffee as you have no boiler to protect & steel kettles are pretty resilient to corrosion, easy to descale if necessary.

If you're sure your technique is good, you can tweak KH to tune acidity (more KH for less acidity, less KH for more acidity & clarity).

Ashbeck isn't really recommended for boilers (low pH & KH).


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## Nanikame (Dec 8, 2020)

MWJB said:


> Yes, I have brewed with Lockhills and it is fine. You have a wider choice with brewed coffee as you have no boiler to protect & steel kettles are pretty resilient to corrosion, easy to descale if necessary.
> 
> If you're sure your technique is good, you can tweak KH to tune acidity (more KH for less acidity, less KH for more acidity & clarity).
> 
> Ashbeck isn't really recommended for boilers (low pH & KH).


 Thank you for quick reply.

Yes indeed, it is easier to deal with scale on the kettle than dealing with whatever can go wrong with boilers if wrong water is used.

I have to admit I am pretty concerned now after what you have said about Ashbeck. I as recommended to use it by one of the people working for the website I got the equipment from. Now it got me worried as I've been using this water exclusively for a month with my espresso machine.

I also know some are using RO water and adding their own mix of minerals but it seemed to me to be too complicated for the beginning and I decided to start with bottled water then.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Nanikame said:


> Thank you for quick reply.
> 
> Yes indeed, it is easier to deal with scale on the kettle than dealing with whatever can go wrong with boilers if wrong water is used.
> 
> ...


 I wouldn't expect any problems from month of use.

Lockhills & Volvic are the usual "1 bottle" solutions. You could mix your Ashbeck 50:50 with Volvic if you want to use it up.

Your tap provides a source of mineralised water, which you can add to RO/DI/distilled.


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## Stu Beck (May 31, 2020)

I did try the Lockhills and made some tasty cups, however I'm not convinced there are huge benefits over filtered tap water for me to switch to buying bottled water regularly.

It's not going too cost much to experiment, but I'd rather spend the extra money on beans tbh.


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## Like Medium Strong Coffee (Feb 18, 2021)

Switched from Tap to (salt block) softened water to Re-mineralised Osmio Zero. The Zero made a huge difference to our taste bud.


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