Water for coffee

[Bechet]

I gave up drinking Southampton tap water years ago as it tastes so bad and started using bottled water - supermarket's own, about £2 for a six pack of 2l bottles so not Perrier-expensive by any means. In buying it from three supermarkets - Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury - I discovered that the Waitrose and Tesco water is best suited to tea and the Sainsbury brand improves coffee.

The difference turned out to be pH value of the water, so I like a slightly acidic water for my tea (fine tea, not Builders' Standard) and slightly alkaline for my coffee. I have to concentrate to tell the difference but a mix-up is discernable.

Does anyone else use a special water for their coffee (and tea) or just use whatever is to hand - not a bad option if your tap water tastes OK.

 

[shrink]

I just use tap water... We are fairly lucky in this part of the world to have pretty soft, decent tasting water. My machine also has an in tank filter which likely helps sort out some of the hardness and taste factors.

Not sure I could console myself to pouring 3L of bought water into the back of it

 

[YorkNeil]

Hard water in York but tastes fine. So long as it's fresh it's OK, if there's water left in the reservoir it gets changed.

I have a super duper £200 filter on my commercial machine which claims to make water as close to Biblical ambrosia as you can get but I can't taste any difference. I only filter to protect against scale,

 

[asharperrazor]

I use RO water. Drink RO water too.

 

[antdad]

I tried an assortment of mineral waters and couldn't really tell the difference, now use the tap water (charcoal filter) which removes chlorine and reduces scaling a bit, that's it.

 

[Johnus]

Ph valve on coffee. Years ago I went to a small "Diner" for breakfast each morning. The waitress there would add Egg Shells to the Coffee mix each time she brewed it.
She said it made it less Acidic.

 

[Bechet]

I use RO water. Drink RO water too.

I give up! What is RO water? Surely not reverse osmosis??!! The instructions with my softener tell me not to drink the water, cook with it nor water plants with it, on pain of an agonising death the plumber said, iIrc.

 

[Johnus]

This water thing is just getting more and more confusing. Spring water that isn't really spring water, Distilled water that isn't really Distilled. Tap water that we have no idea at all where it really comes from.
Then we have the Future world water shortage. With global warming half of our coast lines will be underwater! ...But the world will have a major water shortage? It's just too confusing!

 

[Lose the beard]

Re: RE: Water for coffee

I use RO water. Drink RO water too.

I give up! What is RO water? Surely not reverse osmosis??!! The instructions with my softener tell me not to drink the water, cook with it nor water plants with it, on pain of an agonising death the plumber said, iIrc.

RO is reverse osmosis. It is commonly used in Marine Fish Tanks and by people who brew beer. I use RO water for all my beer brewing. I haven't tried making coffee with it.

 

[Helveticum]

This water thing is just getting more and more confusing. Spring water that isn't really spring water, Distilled water that isn't really Distilled. Tap water that we have no idea at all where it really comes from.
Then we have the Future world water shortage. With global warming half of our coast lines will be underwater! ...But the world will have a major water shortage? It's just too confusing!

It's not like all water is potable

P.S. using Sainsbury's water, quite happy with it. Used to just pour it from tap when I lived in Glasgow though.

 

[asharperrazor]

I use RO water. Drink RO water too.

I give up! What is RO water? Surely not reverse osmosis??!! The instructions with my softener tell me not to drink the water, cook with it nor water plants with it, on pain of an agonising death the plumber said, iIrc.

Yes exactly.

Is it not common in the UK? We use it to purify our drinking water over here. The local water is horrid where I live. Full of chlorine and other nasty tasting chemicals. Sometimes they even fail to disinfect some of the water in the rural areas... :dodgy:

 

[Lose the beard]

RO water isn't common at all in the UK. Very few people have the ability to make it at home and the only shops you can usually get it from are Pet Shops that sell Tropical and Marine Fish.

 

[asharperrazor]

How interesting. An RO system is only $150 here.