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My tap water was ruining my morning pour over for 6 months | Coffee Enthusiasts - Vivisector

My tap water was ruining my morning pour over for 6 months

I swear I was doing everything right with my V60 - same grind, same ratio, same temp. But my coffee kept tasting flat and dull no matter what. Turns out my local water in Phoenix was way too hard with a TDS over 300. I grabbed a $15 jug of distilled water and added a pinch of Third Wave Water minerals, and holy cow the difference was night and day. Has anyone else found that their tap water was secretly killing their brew flavor?

3 comments

3 Comments

wader714mo ago

Wait are you sure it was the water that fixed it and not just placebo? I mean I live in Phoenix too and my tap water TDS is like 280-290 and I make pour over every single day with no issues. I just use a basic carbon filter pitcher and my coffee comes out great. Maybe your brew method was off or your beans were stale? Ive tried distilled water plus minerals before and honestly couldn't tell a huge difference from my filtered tap. Sometimes people overthink this stuff and blame the water when its really just a bad bag of beans or a clogged filter.

danielm804mo ago

Watched a video from that barista champion guy, Scott Rao I think, where he talked about water chemistry being way more important than most people give it credit for. He said even small tweaks in mineral content can totally change how extraction works, especially with lighter roasts. Ngl, I tried playing around with distilled water and baking soda once, just a pinch, and it did make my V60 taste noticeably sweeter and less bitter. But honestly, for everyday drinking with a darker roast or a solid medium blend, I doubt most folks would even notice the difference.

alice9284mo ago

Right, thank you! Someone had to say it. I actually had almost the exact same thing happen when I moved to Austin and went down a whole rabbit hole with distilled water and Third Wave packets. Spent like two weeks obsessing over it, bought a TDS meter and everything. Then my buddy came over and just used his regular Austin tap water that's not even that good and brewed a perfectly solid cup with my exact same beans and grinder. Felt so dumb. Placebo is a real thing, especially when you watch a bunch of YouTube videos and convince yourself you're a water chemist now. Most of us are better off just making sure our beans are fresh and our grinder isn't caked in old grounds.