Best water for a home machine

[noidle22]

I always try to use water that has an oxygen in it and also two hydrogens

[CoffeeFever]

Hey Pauly404

As gunda mentioned earlier, the water quality in Melbourne is really good. Especially in the eastern regions. I used to work for one of the water companies and I can honestly say the filtration process that the water goes through before it's get's to your house is amazing. Our water quality has been voted as one of the best in the world. I'd be interested to hear what differences you have noticed with boiled water vs tap water if you are in the Melb area?

[kbc]

Good idea Barry. I might give that a try.

[Barry_Duncan]

When using rain water it helps if you divert the first water away from your tank. Your roof gets dust, dirt, leaves and bird poo. The first rain effectively washes your roof. If you do not use a first flush diverting device, the first of the rainwater will carry most of the dirt straight into your tank and become part of your drinking water.

Barry

[kbc]

I agree. Rainwater (unfiltered) might not be great with all the dust and other bits washing off from the roof...

[TOK]

I'd be interested to know how water running from the roof during rain and storms is filtered before entering the tanks, unless you mean the sieve and trap collectors we all have at the entry point to our tanks. I would be interested to know how water can be "filtered" when it is running at such volume from the roof...the rate of flow is quite different to that which is filtered in the normal sense when being pumped out for household use.

I wouldn't call sieves and traps "filters", if that is what you mean.

[TampIt]

Thanks Mick. GREAT idea. I have a rainwater tank for the garden but never thought of using it for the coffee machine before ...

Hi Pauly404

I was brought up in country NSW originally, and was taught that filtering rainwater on the way into the tank is essential if you want to drink it.

For reasons I cannot fathom, West Oz practice is too allow anything into the tank and then hit it with heavy duty filtering on the way out. Dead frogs & birds are very common using that system.

For my own coffee (and all drinking) use, I actually filter the rainwater on the way in with a fairly standard graduated filtering system (from coarse "remove twigs" to fine enough to trap most dirt) and then "stone candle filter" it on the way out as well. Nothing ever seems to get through to the machine (i.e. no residue after 18+ months of normal use) and the tank lasted from 1986 to about 2011 before it got "whiffy": so I emptied it out and cleaned it from scratch. It had less than 1" of sediment, which I thought was good going.

Whatever you decide, if you use rainwater I would urge you to filter in & out.

TampIt

[TheLudicrousBean]

Guys, one word of advice...

Ive read scott rao's book

"The proffesional barista handbook"

and his advice on water quality is to not use RO water... he says that you should avoid getting no minerals and should have only sufficient levels of minerals.......

[TOK]

yes....beautifully soft with no scale problem but.....dont forget birds crap up there, and you get birds, frogs, lizards and other things occasionally dying up there and also ending up in your tank etc etc etc.

My rain water is beautiful to drink and use in the coffee machine however....I do filter the part that goes to my drinking water fountain, down to half a micron to get rid of any possibility of other nasties such as giardia, chryptosporidium and anything else to do with the crap up on the roof and in the tank/s...

So, if you're not conditioning or filtering for one thing, you may still be filtering for something else.

[kbc]

Thanks Mick. GREAT idea. I have a rainwater tank for the garden but never thought of using it for the coffee machine before ...

[mulquemi]

Water for your coffee machine,at home.

Water for your coffee machine,at home.
Why not try rain water,your will need a means to collect it ie roof area and suitable tank for storage,small ones are available.
I have a older cimbali basic M27 and it's plumbed to a 2500 litre rainwater tank (first flush filtering).
Absolutely sparkling water,very soft and clean....no calcium and very little dust residue,means I don't bother descaling anymore (I do check though).
All my domestic machines use nothing except rainwater as well,terrific ,once set up it's free.
Obviously some commercial applications will need considering to plumbing to outside storage options.
Cheers
Mick

[burr]

Yeah the decrease in function over time and uncertainty of performance makes the inline filters of limited use... especially in em6910s when they are left untouched for 5 years!

[kbc]

Thanks Chris. I agree with you there.

[TC]

Yes- as per our post above yours, a brita cheapie from a supermarket might soften water for the first few litres on a new cartridge. It's a drinking water filter, not a coffee filter. FWIW, I don't place massive faith on the inline ones either. In the majority of cases, owners forget to freshen them or don't know/don't care.

For mine, the bidding starts with http://www.talkcoffee.com.au/shop/aq...ration-system/

[burr]

A BRITA system may be sufficient for the soft water in most Australian cities, either that or you could hook up an inline water filter (i.e. the type em6910 ships with, or this from talkcoffee). While I've seen people here claim BRITA will do nothing for scale build up, thats not true - basically the cartridges contain activated carbon (to remove chlorine and organic compounds), along with an ion exchange resin which swaps calcium for sodium. That resin is the same as the inline filters which can conveniently be regenerated in salty water. Scientific grade water is very different in that it uses reverse osmosis to remove metal ions completely.

If you want to know where you stand you would need to do what pete did and actually measure it. The 'flavour' of water (and presumably coffee) will be affected by the ion content - the end goal isn't to remove all of the calcium and magnesium. Also the simple act of filtration would help reduce the amount of insoluble crud sticking to the inside of your machine. If you own a high end machine the investment is definitely worthwhile!