Is there any solution that is agreed upon to use after a RO system? Why is this water thing so hard to agree upon? I have trouble finding any advice for a real solution to get me hooked up. I get that everyone's water is different, but once you do RO, aren't they all close?

I'm driving myself mad trying to get my machine plumbed in and I don't even have my machine yet. Makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach, like I have an upcoming exam I'm not prepared for.

Have you tested your water yet to know what if anything you're dealing with?

We tested our water with a water hardness test strip and saw we don't have a problem so we're just not going to worry about it or do anything other than have the provision to easily install some sort of filter if we change our minds down the road. The machine is direct plumbed & drained and there has been no problem.

Our teakettle doesn't have a scale problem that's worrisome so to hell with it. If the espresso machine develops a problem after 10-plus years then we'll just trade up for something better.

I'd chill out, test the water to see what you're dealing with and go from there.

I'm going to get the tests at Home Depot tomorrow as I've just been looking at local reports. It looks like I'm at 135mg/l. I just don't want to have to deal with big scale maintanence as I know other things in my home show affects of the water. You somewhat eased my concerns, but I also don't want to have to upgrade my machine hopefully. Lol

RO water is not suitable for making good coffee because it *lacks* minerals. Most RO systems are just short of distilled water quality, maybe 20-30ppm for most home systems.

The problem with water for coffee is that coffee needs minerals and machines don't want minerals.

If you're lucky, your tap water has a good balance of desirable minerals in a concentration that is sufficient to make espresso, yet low enough to have low scaling potential and no corrosion causing elements. Few of us are that lucky, but it can happen.

Very few of us have soft tap water, but that happens too. In that case, mineral addition may be desirable for coffee.

Most of us have hard water from the tap.

In many cases, diluting hard tap water with distilled or RO water will produce water with a desirable formulation. That's fairly easy to accomplish.

I happen to live in an area with very hard water, which also has a high level of chlorides and that ruled out dilution with RO water for me.

So - my solution is to formulate aqueous calcium bicarbonate solution using a Soda Stream carbonator and adding that to RO water formulate water with a desirable level of calcium hardness. I also gave up on plumbing in the machine due to the nature of my water supply. That leaves mixing the water and using the pour-over tank. My only other option is bottled water, but the RO/concentrate mix is a lot cheaper in the long run.

I recently went through this same challenge, surprised by how difficult it was to determine what water treatment is needed to achieve X result when starting with Y water. Thankfully, with help from @homeburrero I settled on this system that is now supplying water with 30-60mg/l tds, near 7 pH, and target GH and KH values: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Master ... /301285948

I had originally planned on using the inline filters and softener from Chris' Coffee but learned my water supply also has very high chloride levels, so I went with and RO system that has a remineralization cartridge.

Our LA city water is 350 ppm from the tap and then when a dual carbon filter it gets down to maybe 300 ppm. I struggled for a long time with my shots not tasting great and finally opted to start making water using very basic recipe from Matt Preger using distilled water with epsom salts and bicarbonate. I now use water that is between 70 - 120 ppm (I still experiment) and have been much happier. It's simple and cost-ish effective.

Going to be getting a HX machine this week and I'm sure with all the extra water it consumes I might get a little annoyed at having to prepare liter batches of water all the time, but it is what it is.

That RO system with remineralization looks good, but 30-60ppm seems low for what I've read on espresso water recipes. I should ask my local shop what their water recipe is as he was the one who first suggested I stop using the city water.

The RO system recommended above looks like a good one. But, re-mineralization cartridges can be easily added to any RO system. Our town water is very hard (about twice yours). The whole house has a salt-based softener (ion exchanger) in the basement as well as an RO system mounted next to it. We have a third water line plumbed to the bathrooms , kitchen and the coffee bar that is fed from the RO. No fuss, no muss and an easy DIY if you don't have a finished basement. We installed the RO downstream of the ion exchanger; the benefit of that is the water going into the RO is quite free from any grit or other pollutants that might clog the filters, as a water softener is in essence a self flushing filter too; that works so well that in over a year of use we've never had to change the RO filters. If you keep the TDS to somewhere just under 50 ppm you'll have minimal to no scaling. This is easily done with a bypass line and blending valve at the re-mineralization filter if you find your filter puts out too much; testing with a 'TDS pen' is cheap and good enough. Also, if you feed the machine pure RO water (bypass the re-mineralization cartridge) now and again, it will effectively remove what little scaling you may have, as RO water is mildly acetic. Or, you can just accept what the town send you in the pipe and run it through a Brita first .

That RO system with remineralization looks good, but 30-60ppm seems low for what I've read on espresso water recipes. I should ask my local shop what their water recipe is as he was the one who first suggested I stop using the city water.

30-60 ppm TDS is about the range shown in the owners manuals for many espresso machines. Of course, they probably lean towards not scaling up the machine. I don't have that good a palate, I guess, as i can't really discern much difference no matter what water I use other than straight tap water. In any case, if you put in a bypass tube and blending valve you can make it come out how you like. Over the years, I've tended more toward RO water to save maintenance on the machine, making an re-mineralization cartridge last a longer time. On thing I neglected to mention above is to put the accumulator tank last in the chain; I've been told that pure RO water will eventually take on a taste from the tank, although we've never experienced this in either our motor home or our motor yacht, both of which used 'whole-house' RO systems.

Nunas wrote:30-60 ppm TDS is about the range shown in the owners manuals for many espresso machines.

I'm actually not sure where I saw the PPM recommendations for espresso, I think it was on Matt Perger's Barista Hustle website, but can't remember. I might be wrong about the higher ppm.

Our Izzo Alex Duetto III Owner's Manual (page-3) states water hardness should not exceed 3-grains. The photo below is the water test strip included with the machine by Chris' Coffee Service. Additional test strips can be purchased from Chris' for about a buck.