What if I told you there's an easy way to improve the flavor and aroma of coffee you drink at home that's easy, simple, and costs almost nothing? It's not a change to your brewing equipment, or the beans you choose... it's just better water.
Coffee is mostly water
You may not put much thought into water quality before brewing your coffee, but you should. Coffee, after all, is 98% water, and the quality of the water you use is hugely impactful on the flavor and aroma of your finished cup of coffee.
Think about the effort and energy you put into selecting a roaster, beans, your choice of grind, and the brewing method itself. All those choices dramatically contribute to the cup of coffee you ultimately enjoy, but the water itself can be just as impactful.
Why you need better water for coffee
Across the United States, municipal water is generally high quality and safe to drink, but that doesn't mean it's consistent. You may have noticed that water varies significantly as you travel. It may be high or lower in minerals, and with, or without various contaminants like chlorine or pesticide. Physical impurities, like sediment, are also common.
These variations aren't ideal for preparing coffee, which is only as good as the water you start with.
How we get great water in our cafes
Klatch Coffee cafe locations are spread out across Southern California, which means that the municipal water supply in each is different and unique. Inconsistent water quality would change the characteristics of the beverages we serve you, which means we have to carefully think about the water in each cafe. Our goal is to serve high-quality specialty coffee, regardless of which cafe you visit, which means the water needs to be consistent from location to location.
For example, Klatch Coffee recently opened 3 new cafe locations inside Sprouts Farmers Market in Eastvale, Fullerton, and Rancho Cucamonga. While the municipal water supply is high quality in each of these cities, it also varies in mineral content and impurities. To compensate, we filter and purify the local water using high-end commercial water filtration systems, then supplement the filtered water with minerals to ensure a consistent and flavorful cup.
What you can do at home
While commercial-grade water filtration and treatment may beyond the scope of what you can do at home, there are still some simple ways to get better water.
First, a simple rule: don't make coffee with water you wouldn't drink. Easy, right? If you're already using an inline home water filter, or a filtered pitcher you keep in the fridge, you've got a head start.
Using filtered water to remove impurities is a key step toward making cafe-quality coffee at home. Filters can remove chemicals like chlorine, which are present in your municipal water supply, but they also remove minerals. Minerals add flavor and aromatics, so we don't necessarily want to remove all of them.
A basic way to improve water quality is using a pitcher equipped with a charcoal filter. Fill it from your tap and keep it in the fridge. Inline filters installed at your tap can also be a good solution. These solutions can leave enough of the desired minerals behind.
What about hard or soft water?
If you have hard water, you'll notice that your brewing equipment accumulates buildup or scale much faster. A more regular cleaning schedule might be in order. In addition to improved flavor, as a bonus, filtered water can also help protect the lifespan of your brewing equipment by preventing or slowing that mineral buildup.
In the event you're stuck with really bad municipal water and want to avoid using it for coffee entirely, purchasing bottled water to use exclusively for your coffee may be an option.
If you're exploring specialty coffee further at home and want to do a bit more for consistency, consider using an additive specifically designed for specialty coffee, like Third Wave Water. To use this product, purchase a gallon of reverse osmosis or distilled water, add the mineral supplement to it, then brew your coffee using the treated water. The treated water perfectly meets the Specialty Coffee Association standards.
