Need Advice for Water for Espresso and Pour Over

#1: Post by **lukeap69** » April 28th, 2023, 2:09 am

We only use bottled water for drinking; the 5 gallon bottles in water dispensers. I have narrowed down my choices to three brands, can any of these be used for espresso and pour over?

#2: Post by **homeburrero** » April 28th, 2023, 2:54 pm

If those numbers are ballpark reliable, then I think I would not recommend the Albayan for use in an espresso machine because of the high chloride ion numbers. The other two would be OK - they appear to be purified waters remineralized primarily with sulfates, and should not be scale prone because of the low calcium and low bicarbonate numbers.

P.S.
Here in the US, Aquafina (from Pepsi) is a purified water with near zero TDS. Yours appears to be purified water that has been remineralized with magnesium, sodium, and calcium sulfates, and is a little unusual that it has no bicarbonates at all. The numbers don't add up exactly right. (13 mg/L magnesium is a magnesium hardness of 54 mg/L as CaCO3, and 5 mg/L calcium is a calcium hardness of 12 mg/L as CaCO3, giving you a total hardness of 66 mg/L.)

The Arwa appears to have a little potassium bicarbonate along with more magnesium hardness than the Aquafina. Neither of those should be scale prone in an espresso machine, and I doubt you could taste a difference in the brew.

April 28th, 2023, 3:20 pm

Many thanks Pat.

Most bottled drinking water here seem to be purified then remineralized. Arwa is a product of Coca Cola here if I am not mistaken. I will get either Arwa or Aquafina from now on. Appreciate your advice. Cheers.

#4: Post by **buckersss** » April 29th, 2023, 12:37 pm

Pat, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your response.

I believe you have mentioned it before, but I thought I'd ask in this thread. All else being equal I thought you said that you prefer bicarbonates to sulfates, correct?

#5: Post by **homeburrero** » April 29th, 2023, 4:06 pm

buckersss wrote:All else being equal I thought you said that you prefer bicarbonates to sulfates, correct?

I do think bicarbonates are preferable to sulfates in most situations, especially in any water that has low (below about 40 mg/L) alkalinity. A small amount of bicarbonates provides a buffering capacity that helps reduce corrosion risk whereas sulfates tend to increase corrosion risk. If you have high calcium, then either one might contribute to scale problems - - Calcium + bicarbonate can precipitate as calcium carbonate (limescale) and calcium + sulfate can precipitate as calcium sulfate (gypsum).

In this case I think the Arwa numbers look a little better better for machine health despite having more sulfate than the Aquafina because of the bicarbonate. Neither one has numbers that might cause concern about limescale or gypsum deposits.

#6: Post by **buckersss** » April 29th, 2023, 8:23 pm

Thanks a ton