Water Is an Ingredient

Water Is an Ingredient

When people ask how to make better coffee at home, we usually end up talking about coffee makers, grinders, or recipes.

Water rarely comes up first.

That makes sense. We notice the coffee because we bought it. We notice the grinder because we hear it. We notice the brewer because it sits on the counter.

The water simply arrives when we turn the faucet on.

For a long time, I didn’t think much about it either.

When I built my little roastery, though, I had a practical problem to solve. We live on a well, and I wanted dependable water in the shop. I wanted to cup/analyze coffees, brew coffee during the day, and know that the water was good and the same, every time.

That need sent me down a rabbit hole.

I learned about hardness, alkalinity, reverse osmosis, water softeners, carbon filters, minerals, test strips, TDS meters, and enough chemistry to convince me that water isn’t nearly as simple as it looks.

Oddly enough, after all that reading and experimenting, my advice became much simpler.

Most people don’t need to become students of water.

They just need to remember that it is an ingredient.

One of the first things that surprised me was learning that water isn’t “just H₂O.” By the time it reaches your kitchen, it has traveled through soil and rock, through treatment systems or wells, and carries dissolved minerals along with it.

Those things can matter.

They can influence how the water tastes by itself, and they can quietly influence how your coffee tastes too.

That doesn’t mean you need laboratory water to make good coffee.

In fact, another surprise was learning that removing absolutely everything from the water isn’t necessarily the goal either. There is a reason coffee professionals spend time thinking about what is in the water, not just what has been taken out of it.

I’m still learning there myself.

For my own shop, I eventually installed a reverse osmosis system because it gave me something I valued even more than perfection.

Consistency.

When I’m cupping coffees or evaluating a new roast, I don’t want to wonder whether today’s cup is different because yesterday’s rain changed the well water. I want a dependable baseline so I can pay attention to the coffee.

I’ve come to believe that’s an important part of craftsmanship.

Before you improve something, make it consistent enough to understand.

Only then do the changes you make actually teach you something.

Most people brewing coffee at home don’t need to install a reverse osmosis system to accomplish that.

In fact, I’d suggest something much simpler.

Pour yourself a glass of the water you normally brew with.

Taste it.

Does it taste clean?

Does anything stand out?

A metallic taste. Chlorine. Sulfur. Something earthy. Something that simply isn’t pleasant.

If you wouldn’t enjoy drinking the water by itself, there’s a good chance your coffee won’t completely hide it.

Then make a simple comparison.

Buy an inexpensive bottle of spring water the next time you’re at the grocery store. Brew the same coffee with the same grinder, the same brewer, and the same recipe. Change only the water.

You aren’t trying to prove a point.

You’re trying to learn something.

Maybe you won’t notice much difference.

That’s a useful result.

Maybe you’ll find the coffee a little cleaner, sweeter, or more balanced.

That’s useful too.

If your tap water tastes good and your coffee tastes good, you may already have everything you need. If the bottled water is noticeably better, perhaps a simple filter is worth trying before you spend money on anything more elaborate.

You don’t have to solve every problem before you’ve discovered that you actually have one.

I like that approach because it leaves room for curiosity without making coffee intimidating.

I’ve spent more time thinking about water than I ever expected to. Some of that came from coffee. Some of it came from living on a well. Some of it came from wanting a dependable shop where I could evaluate coffees fairly.

At any rate, specialty coffee is basically just water. And in making it, it is perhaps the easiest thing to overlook.