High elevation, soft water compensation...

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jmrust
Posts: 8
Joined: 4 years ago

#1: Post by jmrust »

Question for the pros...

I'm at 5,000ft in elevation and my water is pretty soft at ~30ppm TDS. Obviously, the boiling point of water here is lower (202F) which reduces extraction, but the soft water should increase extraction slightly. I find that I tend to grind finer to compensate and/or aim to pull a slightly longer shot. Even for FP I prefer a pretty fine grind... almost drip fine with two screens seems to yield best results.

What do the pros say? Am I overthinking this, or do you have hot tips for me? :)

P.S. I read the other posts, understand espresso machines are pressurized (so I just make sure temps stay below boiling out the PF), etc. It just seems to taste better to me if I go with slightly lower brew temps and longer extractions with any method. I'm curious what others have found works best...

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homeburrero
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#2: Post by homeburrero »

As you say in your PS, you can brew at high temps at 5000ft because most of the extraction is under pressure. If the water exiting the puck is at 202F (which would be a pretty hot pull) you might expect a cone-shaped exit stream and bubbles in the cup.
jmrust wrote:the soft water should increase extraction slightly.
Not sure that's true. Computational chemistry modeling suggests higher extraction from harder waters (see Hendon et. al.) but that hasn't been demonstrated in actual coffee using refractometer measurements. High bicarbonate alkalinity is often associated with slower flow rates through the coffee bed, but I think that's for alkalinity way above what you could possibly have in your ~30 ppm water.

jmrust wrote:It just seems to taste better to me if I go with slightly lower brew temps and longer extractions with any method.
Can't argue with that. But I wonder if that might still be your preference if you were at sea level.

Here's a thread by an experienced home barista who moved from NYC to Santa Fe that I found informative: Espresso at altitude - Could use some theory

People do seem to agree that coffee beans need longer post-roast rest time at altitude.
Pat
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jmrust (original poster)
Posts: 8
Joined: 4 years ago

#3: Post by jmrust (original poster) »

Interesting re post-roast rest. My blend of choice is from a local roaster. I'll have to pay closer attention to see if there is a date on the bags and experiment! Rookie move, I should probably know roast dates. Growing up, "fresher beans are better" was beaten into me, but that was before I lived 10 min from the roaster :)

Yeah, there are so many variables the science gets a bit complicated, and the art more apparent.

Could very well be personal preference. I never did anything special when I lived in CA using horrible tap water, but I wasn't as serious then either. Those would probably be sink shots now :lol: