I am gradually teasing out better shots, but I think my water is holding me back. It has a GH <20mg/l and KH of 20 mg/l. As a result I use volvic which I measured at GH 80mg/l and KH 60mg/l.

My new machine (expobar leva d/b) came with an inline softener and volvic from the group is coming out at GH <20mg/l and KH 60mg/l which matches jims water faq.
Would water in this range produce harsh, overly bright espresso or should it be ok?


N.B. I would remove the softener but then the pipe would be too short. I am therefore contemplating running some evian through it until the softener is depleted.

I think I can now answer my own question.

I put some Evian through the tank to boost the levels and measured GH up to 40mg/l and KH up to 140mg/l. It has since dropped back to GH <20 and KH of 40. I think this proves the inline softener was working but throughout all of these ranges I never noticed the taste getting better or worse.

I am now going to let my water fall back to tap to see if I am sensitive enough to taste 20+20 water.