I was grinding my beans for months before I realized my water was the problem

I kept buying new gear, thinking my coffee tasted flat because of the grinder or the machine. Then a barista friend came over, used my exact setup, and asked if I was using tap water from the city line. He was right, I was. He made a cup with a bottle of spring water he had, and the difference was like night and day. All that mineral buildup was killing the flavor. Anyone else have a simple fix that made a huge change?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie_ellis3mo ago

Yeah, read a whole thing about how water hardness can totally block the coffee oils. Makes sense now why my old place had such bad coffee.

christopher_wells43mo ago

Ugh, I've been there with my old kettle!

adams.spencer2mo ago

Disagree hard with that whole water hardness idea. My tap water is basically liquid rock and my coffee tastes fine, better than most shops honestly. Christopher_wells4 is blaming the kettle but maybe the problem was the beans or just a bad brew method. People get way too into water science when the real fix is often just using more coffee or grinding it right.