Up to this point I've spoken with quite a few people locally (Halifax, Nova Scotia) who brew and have been told we're fairly lucky in terms of city water supply and most people here just say to use a pitcher filter and be done with it. Which is what I've been doing with a BWT pitcher up until now.
My questions is, is this really close enough to be ideal both for taste and scale build up?
I don't know how to properly assess the city's test report:
This is the water I run through a BWT pitcher and then straight into my Profitec 600 tank fed dual boiler. I was thinking about making rpavlis water and went as far as ordering some Potassium Bicarbonate but then I started to think about how to minimize waste and if that was really the best course of action.
Can someone try to explain to me if the above water chemistry is both safe for espresso machines and in a decent range for taste. I do notice that the BWT filtered tap water TASTES much better as straight drinking water and I've been fairly diligent about changing the filters on time.
Here are the results of the simple water test kit I tried:
And here is the tap vs the filtered. Black mark on the end of the tap water. Not any difference I can see. But I guess that is expected with what those pitchers do.
Is there some combination of additives I could use on this water?
Should I pay for a complete water test of MY tap water?
Should I switch to a Zerowater pitcher and add the Potassium Bicarbonate and potentially some Magnesium (Epsom Salts)?
Will this likely net me improved taste result in-the-cup? Safer for the machine?
I'm not concerned about the cost of running something like a Zerowater and making my own concentrate solution to amend it with. I just want to be sure I'm not missing the opportunity to work with the existing water in a way that would get me to the same place.
Thanks for any input provided.