Water really affects your coffee taste
Coffee is more less 95% water and 5% soluble coffee. So it is wise to invest more in your water.
Does all water the same? What’s different?
Yes and no. Of course, all water is H2O. Pure H2O doesn’t have a taste or smell. So why sometimes your water smell and taste sweet/bitter? It’s because of the mineral and other things that dissolved in the water.
That’s why it’s called mineral water. Because inside there are H2O and some minerals like Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, etc. Those minerals are good for your body. Unfortunately, we don’t want these minerals too much or little to nothing at all in our brewing water.
Why is it bad to have too much mineral (or nothing at all) on your water for brewing coffee?
Quoted from https://www.raleighcoffeecompany.com/tds-and-coffee
The TDS of water not only can affect the initial flavor of a cup of coffee but it can also affect the extraction process.
The idea is that low TDS waters tend to over extract coffee. There are little to no solids dissolved in these waters so they have a greater ability to absorb coffee material from the ground beans. This will lead to a coffee that is bitter and dry.
On the other hand, high TDS waters often have high mineral contents and tend to under extract coffee. These waters already have a high level of solids dissolved in them and will have less capacity to absorb coffee material from the coffee grounds. This may lead to a coffee that is sour or lacking sweetness.
According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) the ideal TDS range for the water used to brew coffee is 75–250 ppm. The target TDS is 150 ppm (3). The target TDS of 150 ppm should lead to a properly extracted cup of coffee with balanced flavors and acidity.
Note: Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) is a metric to measure the number of solid minerals dissolved in water. Less TDS means less mineral dissolved with H2O. More TDS means more hard-rock minerals on your water. TDS measured in parts per million (ppm) and can be measured with a TDS meter — generally available.
I currently used Cleo water in my home for brewing and make the ice. Cleo, fortunately, and unfortunately, has 0–10 ppm. It’s a distilled water.
Unfortunately yes, it is over extracted my coffee. So how do I overcome this Cleo water characteristic?
- For hot V60 brewing, I use 90–92 degree Celcius hot water and medium-coarse grind to prevent over-extraction.
- For Japanese Iced style coffee, I just use 97–100 degree Celcius hot water because I directly brew into ice, it’s instantly diluted. It’s better to have bitter over-extracted iced coffee rather than under-extracted because at the end ice will dilute the coffee liquid.
Check out my Japanese Iced Coffee recipe below 👇
Japanese Iced Coffee Recipe
Fortunately, 0 ppm TDS water is also a blessing. Because it has 0 ppm TDS, it is unpolluted with minerals to start with. So when we play with some water additive, it starts from zero minerals level and produces a predictable result.
So how to increase my water from 0 ppm to 150 ppm TDS?
Of course, Aquacode. Not yet try it but excited to try it soon.
In a nutshell, Aquacode is an MSG for your water — it’s a water additive. It contains minerals that would benefit you to extract the most out of your coffee beans. It’s specifically crafted for coffee brewing and is highly recommended.
Its sole purpose is to create a consistent water characteristic (stable ppm) for your choice of water.
Check out their Instagram for more info https://www.instagram.com/aquacode_brew and watch this video to see how it works with water:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzyeoMiS26A (from SSG Coffee Channel)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz1Gsxzm5jA&t=147s (from Homeground Coffee Roasters)
Research the best brewing water you can get but don’t over sweat it.
Choose your best possible water, overcome the weakness, accept that it is not the best brewing water 😆, and enjoy your coffee ☕
Originally posted on my Notion https://www.notion.so/jundialwan/Water-really-affects-your-coffee-taste-a56b71b7e7e04f6e86b87189c5285d47
