I really don't like to descale, but want to contour my water's mineral content for enjoying better espresso. After reading the posts here, I do understand that if I keep the mineral levels within a certain range, I can avoid, or greatly attenuate scaling. But, I really hate descaling.........

I'm feeding my machines distilled water with added sodium bicarbonate--will be trying potassium bicarbonate next week.
Thought maybe the puck route might work for mineral treatment?????

I've added calcium ions to my espresso via the puck, in place of tank. I did this by sprinkling a small amount of calcium lactate (lactate tastes better than the chloride salt) powder to the top of my puck, right before extraction. The added calcium seemed to amplify the flavors of my espresso. Next stop is magnesium ion augmentation....

Wondering if others have tried this??????

If you end up going with magnesium, you probably wont have to worry about it scaling up in the boiler. Seems like a lot of work either way, but that's up to you.

I guess the idea is to have both magnesium and calcium ions in the puck water. Want to taste any effects.
We do each pick our own burdens for making that perfect cup......

I think this is quite the interesting approach - channeling the ol' Cubano.
If you can find a way to make an easy dose of minerals the issue to me would me... how do you make sure the minerals are evenly dissolved in the water prior to hitting the grounds so they then are evenly extracted...
The reason I mention this is it reminds of the "amplification" of tastes when I unevenly extract a shot - it certainly isn't what I wanted.

I don't use distilled water. (I do need to take magnesium, and I use tablets that dissolve in water - so I don't think that's too weird. But the tablets are flavoured and thus not suited for espresso ) For me, a Brita filter helped so much that descaling on the Bezzera Galatea Domus was only needed after 8 years. But ... on the Vesuvius the anti-vacuum valve was sensitive enough to scale build up that I replaced it with another make valve within a few months. The same one that was already in my old Bezzera. Actually my dealer Casa Barista gave me the parts as service. He would have installed it too if I had wanted that. Bezzera uses the same, more sensitive, anti-vac valve and Casa Barista routinely replaces it before a sale. So I guess I'm good to go for another 8 years before I have to descale ...

What I'm trying to say here is that machine parts can also make a huge difference. Materials like Teflon tubing and coated parts are less sensitive to scale build up than copper. Same goes for surgical steel used for boilers. Etc. Also the make (material/dimensions?) of valves etc. seems to matter. Hindrance because of scale build up is not just the water and frequency of use.

So maybe you could also look to exchange some parts that are prone to scale build up? The combination with distilled water and sprinkling magnesium on the puck might make descaling completely superfluous ...