A Technical Look at Coffee Water

I test both Third Wave Water's Espresso Profile and Coffee Water's mineral packs, along with tap water, filtered water, distilled water, and Evian spring water. I go into the Specialty Coffee Association recommendations, and see which waters meet the SCA standards.
sca.coffee/heritage-coffee-st...
Recipes from Taylor of Third Wave Water (as of 2017): www.home-barista.com/water/th...
TWW basic: 1.1g magnesium sulfate, 0.3g calcium citrate, 0.1g sodium chloride
TWW espresso: 1.05g magnesium sulfate, 0.3g calcium citrate, 0.15g potassium bicarbonate.
Test kit is a Taylor K-1005. pH meter is an Apera PH20. TDS meter is from Third Wave Water. The test strips were terrible, don't bother.
=== Timestamps ===
00:00 Introduction
01:55 TWW Recipes
04:30 Tools for tests
06:50 SCA Water Standards
10:23 Mixing Coffee Water
15:00 Test Montage
15:22 Data Analysis
22:30 Taste Test
26:33 Conclusion

[@taylorsminor]

I would say machine maintenance would be the most important factor for espresso machines and taste second. Making sure there are no chlorides (which causes corrosion) and having only permanent hardness (eliminates scaling) are my top requirements for espresso machine water.

[@robertebob]

I stopped using third wave because of the labor involved in buying distilled water and trying to use their 5-gallon size to save money. I wound up with Bilt Osmotic Scale Reduction (O.Sca.R) Cloth Pack/Limescale Inhibitor - small (D107). It just sits in your 2Q water jug and does its thing in the fridge until you're ready to use it. I would have given anything to see that involved in your test. I enjoyed the video. Thanks.

[@darkjellyfish4107]

Nice vid! However I did skip most of the SCA regulations right into data analysis to conclusion. Would be great if you could be more concise but still data rich

[@Abrikosmanden]

Tap water in Copenhagen is clean and free of odour, but it is HARD! Distilled and remineralised water makes a very noticeable difference to filter coffee!

[@TechDregs]

There are certainly areas where water quality may be a big concern. I was surprised that mine didn't appear worse, because it doesn't taste great out of the tap. I still use filtered water, regardless of this test.