How to Make Coffee: Improving the Taste of Your Coffee

One cup of coffee is made up of 98% water, so after you have carefully selected the origin and roast of your coffee beans, the water you choose to go with can have a much bigger impact on the flavor than you may have initially imagined. This is because water acts as a solvent when combined with your coffee, triggering a very subtle chemical reaction that extracts the flavors from the beans.

The intricate blend of different minerals and chemicals that emerges from your taps varies depending on where you live and the source of your water. For this reason, brewing the same coffee in different water can result in assorted flavors.

Total Dissolved Solids , also known as TDS, refers to the complete quantity of both organic and inorganic substances present in a liquid. Mostly dissolved in water, these solids are salts and minerals.

The accepted units for quantifying TDS in water are typically denoted as ppm (parts per million) or mg/L (milligrams per liter). High TDS concentrations can give water a metallic, bitter, or salty flavor. At moderate levels, TDS is generally not regarded as a health hazard; however, extremely high TDS can be a sign of dangerous contaminants like lead or copper. TDS is a useful measure of water quality overall, but it does not reveal the precise mix of substances dissolved in the water.

Does the taste of coffee change with water? Of course! There is no denying that water is a major factor in coffee flavor. The temperature, mineral content, and purity of the water can all significantly change how your brew tastes. For example, Hard water with its high mineral content, can result in coffee that is under-extracted and tastes flat, while soft water can occasionally over-extract and produce a bitter flavor.

It is usually advised to use filtered water or spring water, which is usually pure and has a balanced mineral content, in order to highlight the natural flavors of the coffee beans without bringing out the unwanted flavors of impurities. For this reason, determining the quality of the water is crucial to achieving the ideal cup of coffee and not just a small detail.

TDS is important because it affects how much extraction your coffee can achieve. For coffee to extract the right flavor from the grinds, the water you use to brew needs to contain minerals. Because empty water (water with a TDS of 0) lacks the solids needed to extract flavor from coffee, it will make your coffee taste flat and boring.

For your coffee brewing water, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) developed a water standard. With a tolerable range of 75–250 TDS, the suggested TDS target is 150.

Total dissolved solids only indicate the overall quantity of minerals in your water—not the precise amount of any one mineral. This serves as a guide to help you select the appropriate minerals. Specific instruments are required if you wish to determine which minerals are present in your water and in what amounts.

Beyond these variables, the flavor of coffee is influenced by the water’s quality. Coffee can lose its flavor due to tainted water or water with an unpleasant taste or odor. One way to make sure the water used to brew coffee is clean and pure is to use filtered or bottled water.

Using filtered water from the Waterdrop X Series Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration Systems to make your coffee at home is one of our favorite ways to guarantee the best water for brewing. This under-sink reverse osmosis system uses innovative healthy boost technology to infuse alkaline minerals such as Ca, Mg, etc. And it adjusts your water’s pH to an optimal 7.5±. The alkaline water not only enhances your health, and strengthens your bones, but also elevates your homemade coffee flavors.

If you have already invested in a reverse osmosis water filtration system , a remineralization water filter is also a great choice. It can re-add the essential minerals to the filtered water, making it suitable for drinking and making coffee.

The Waterdrop MNR35 remineralization water filter adopts PCC technology to activate the crystalline structure of minerals, simulates the formation mechanisms of mineral spring to activate every mineral and guarantees your water quality.

Waterdrop is excited to announce its collaboration with the World Coffee Championships (WCC), which was held at the McCormick Place Chicago Lakeside Center from April 12-14th, attracting coffee enthusiasts and professionals from all corners of the world.

At Waterdrop, we understand that water quality is important in achieving the perfect cup of coffee. Waterdrop X Series Osmosis System plays a crucial role in enhancing the competition experience in more ways than one.

Click here to read more: Waterdrop Is Proud to Support Chicago World Coffee Championships

Hot water dissolves some of the flavoring compounds in ground coffee beans, giving coffee its flavor. However, the flavor and caffeine content of a bean is limited. Your coffee will taste bitter and unpleasant if you soak the beans for an extended time and extract too much flavor from them. If you do not soak them long enough, your coffee will taste slightly salty and sour.

Ideally, you ought to be in the middle. In order to obtain the most flavorful and fragrant extraction, it is suggested to brew your coffee using a precise ratio of 1 part coffee to 16 parts of water (1:16). It is recommended to use grams as the unit of measurement for this ratio, specifically 22 grams of coffee to 352 grams (approximately 12.42 oz) of water. However, if you don’t have a scale, you can also measure by volume.

Since you can only extract so much caffeine before you start to extract flavors that are too strong, adding more beans is just a waste of coffee. The ratio of coffee to water is the most crucial factor, though other factors like brew time, temperature, and grind size also play a role.

Coffee flavor can also be influenced by the pH of the water. While water with a low pH (acidic) can highlight the coffee’s inherent sweetness, high pH (alkaline) water can make the coffee taste bitter. Once more, the balance of pH levels will have varying effects on coffee roast profiles and varieties.

As the quality of the water directly influences the taste and overall quality of the beverage, it is crucial to use clean, healthy water when making the ideal cup of coffee. A Waterdrop reverse osmosis filtration system ensures that every drop of tap water is pure and safe to drink by expertly reducing a wide range of common contaminants.

By adding essential minerals back into the water after filtration, the Waterdrop X Series RO System goes above and beyond. These minerals are necessary for the water’s taste enhancement and health benefits, which elevate the experience of drinking coffee. Coffee enthusiasts can now enjoy their brew with the knowledge that every mouthful is made with water that has been carefully refined and enhanced, all thanks to the implementation of such cutting-edge filtration technology.