How Does Water Affect Your Coffee?
As most of us know, coffee is primarily water. When the hot water is combined with fresh coffee grounds, a delicious aroma begins to circulate and out pops a hot caffeine packed beverage. So, seeing as your morning coffee relies heavily on the water that it uses, wouldn’t you want to find the best kind of water to mix with your coffee grounds? In honor of World Water Day, Koffee Kult has decided to explore the affects that different types of water have on your coffee.
Water varies throughout regions and can come from various parts of the world, but the most common types of water that people use to make coffee are filtered and tap water, primarily because they are easily accessible. Many of you may be thinking “does it really matter if the water is filtered?”; after all, the water is pretty much boiled in the process, so if it is not great water, it really doesn’t matter. Wrong. Filtered water tastes differently and will absolutely affect the taste of your coffee. Tap water contains more impurities, and can leave your coffee with a metallic or acidic taste. For a purer tasting cup of coffee, try using filtered or bottled water.
On the other hand, filtered water also possesses several other minerals that can leave it with hard or soft properties. These additional properties will also affect the taste of your coffee. “Hard” water is not actually solid. Instead, the “hardness” of water refers to the additional calcium and magnesium minerals that can be found in the water. The lower the amount of minerals found in the water, the “softer” it is. A key tip to remember is that although hard water will affect the taste of your coffee, soft water will not result in a significant taste difference. Because of the additional minerals found in “hard” water, your final cup of coffee may taste more bitter than usual.
The final effect of water on the taste of coffee that Koffee Kult explores is temperature. Not only can your location influence your water, but also the temperature at which you heat the water. The ideal temperature for a fresh cup of coffee would be anywhere between 195 degrees and 205 degrees. At lower temperatures, you run the risk of not fully pulling the flavor out of your coffee, and at higher temperatures you could end up over-boiling your coffee, resulting in a burned and metallic coffee taste.
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