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The role of water in the brewing process is absolutely crucial in creating a great cup of coffee. At first glance the recommendations below may seem somewhat excessive, but making a little effort with water will bring enormous returns. I f you live in a hard water area, try buying a small bottle of mineral water to brew a single cup of coffee. Brew another coffee straight afterwards in exactly the same way, but using regular tap water instead. From seasoned coffee taster to interested novice, every person who has ever compared the two has been shocked at the difference in quality.
THE ROLE OF WATER
Water is a vital ingredient in a cup of coffee as it makes up around 90 per cent by volume of an espresso and 98.5 per cent of a cup of filter coffee. If the water doesn’t taste good to start with, neither will the cup of coffee in the end. And if you can taste the chlorine, the resulting cup of coffee will be terrible. In many cases a simple water filter jug that contains active carbon (such as a Brita filter) will do a good job of removing negative tastes, but it still might not produce the perfect water for brewing coffee.
Water acts as a solvent, doing the work of extracting the flavours in the coffee with the frustrations of limescale affecting kettles, showers and washing machines. The hardness strongly influences the way the hot water and the ground coffee interact. Harder water seems to change the rate at which the solubles in the coffee go into solution, essentially changing the way the coffee brews at a chemical level.
To make broad statement: it seems a small amount of hardness is desirable, but anything from moderate to hard water does a poor job of brewing coffee, producing a cup lacking in nuance, sweetness and complexity. Also, on a practical level, having soft water is very important if you are using any sort of coffee machine that heats water, such as an espresso machine or a filter coffee machine. Limescale build up will quickly cause a machine to malfunction, and many manufacturers will consider the use of hard water to have invalidated the warranty.
The quality of water used to brew your coffee will affect the taste. Mineral water is ideal but filtered water will also improve the flavour of your coffee.
MINERAL CONTENT
Aside from a good flavour and just a little hardness, there isn’t too much else we really want in the water, but a relatively low mineral content is desirable. Manufacturers of mineral water are required to list the mineral content on the bottle and it is usually described as the total dissolved solids (TDS), or the ‘dry residue at 180°C’ (365°F).
THE PERFECT WATER
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) publishes suggested publish data on the content of their water. If you can’t find this information, buy a water-testing kit from a pet shop (sold to test the water in fish tanks), which will give you accurate readings of the key elements.
CHOOSING A WATER
All this information may seem a little overwhelming and complex, but it can be summarized as follows:
• If you live in a soft to moderately hard water area, use tap water but filter it first to improve the taste.
• If you live in a moderate to very hard water area, bottled water is the current best option for brewing coffee. Choose a bottled water close to the above targets; own-brand supermarket waters tend to be lower in mineral content compared to the big brand waters. While it is not ideal to recommend bottled water, if you really wish to get the best out of your coffee, you must use a water suitable for brewing.
