Improve your shots with quality water
Posted by Mr Coolerer on 17 Dec 2009 | Tagged as: Technique
Almost your entire cup of coffee is water (97-99%), this should come as no surprise. What may come as a shock is the effect of the quality of the water on your espresso. It would make sense that if you use poor quality water, you may as well stop reading now and open a jar of instant. Its not that drastic but this ever neglected factor is one that deserves more thought than most people give it.
Using a filter system for your espresso machine will improve the quality of your water by removing some of the particulates that are often in tap water. Alternatively, though this is a very drastic technique, you can use bottled water. I don’t like this because of the un-necessary packaging involved with bottled water, but it’ll get you through in a pinch.
Hard, highly mineralised water, or water that is alkaline doesn’t harm the flavour or aroma in any direct way, however it does take the edge off the natural acids and will result in a flat and dull shot. However, don’t go using water softeners because these are even worse! If your water supply is hard or acidic, consider using beans that have a higher acidity by nature. Such beans may originate from Africa, Arab nations and the higher end Central America.
Further reading on water quality and espresso:
Virtual Coffee, a more in depth look at water quality in making coffee.
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