skyler_kim15•1d agoProlific Poster

My tap water was killing my espresso shot taste for weeks

I was dialing in a new bag of beans and getting nothing but sour or bitter shots no matter what I did. After wasting probably 2 pounds of coffee, I read a post on a coffee science forum about water hardness affecting extraction. I tested my tap water with a cheap TDS meter from Amazon ($12) and got a reading of 250 ppm. I switched to bottled spring water with 80 ppm and my first pull was a totally different drink. Has anyone else had their water chemistry screw up their shots this badly?

2 comments

2 Comments

simonp401d ago

I live in a city with water at 180 ppm and I've never had trouble getting good shots. I am skeptical that 250 ppm versus 80 ppm is the difference between sour and tasty unless your water is truly terrible. Most commercial cafes I know just use a basic carbon filter and they pull great espresso all day long. Unless your water has a weird mineral balance or tastes bad on its own, I think people sometimes blame the water when it's really their grind size or dose that is off. A TDS meter is a helpful tool, but I wouldn't swap to bottled water based on one reading without doing a bunch of side by side tests first.

oliver5231d ago

People waste money chasing the perfect gadget when half the time it's just basic stuff like grind or dose that needs fixing. @simonp40 is right that water gets blamed way too fast, same thing happens with tires on a car or blades on a lawnmower. You gotta rule out the simple things first before you go buying bottled water and fancy meters.