Descale your espresso machines regularly!

RaisedByWolves said:
For an espresso machine, and given the amount of cost and work involved here Id just use distilled water and do away with the rest.
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Oh no, you don't want to do that. Distilled water has an awful flavor. Water gets its taste from the minerals in it. Also, when brewing coffee, there is an ion exchange between the organic ground bean and the cations in the water that can be manipulated by adding a dash of table salt, as many Europeans do. I import my coffee water from an artisanal spring owned by a family of traditional soft cheesemakers on the northwest face of the French Alps. I am sure @wachuko uses that grotty Italian water with the star on the bottle, but he's an unrefined savage.
 
RaisedByWolves said:
For an espresso machine, and given the amount of cost and work involved here Id just use distilled water and do away with the rest.
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Yeah, but then you'd have very convenient but godawful tasting coffee!:grin:

The minerals in the water make a big difference to extraction.

Some people will take distilled water and then add calcium and magnesium in the right proportions to make properly extracting water but that's an additional hassle. You can buy sachets with the correct amounts but that's an extra expense.

The other alternative is to buy mineral water that has the right makeup but you have to remember to stock up every so often and it's also an extra expense and a bit wasteful and you have to store the bottles.

Eh, the tap water I have is good water for brewing coffee, I just have to remember to descale once a month or so. Doesn't take long; one sachet a month will do it from now on in.

I now have a monthly reminder on my phone to descale and an amazon subscription order for the sachets. ;)
 
pontiac428 said:
Oh no, you don't want to do that. Distilled water has an awful flavor. Water gets its taste from the minerals in it. Also, when brewing coffee, there is an ion exchange between the organic ground bean and the cations in the water that can be manipulated by adding a dash of table salt, as many Europeans do. I import my coffee water from an artisanal spring owned by a family of traditional soft cheesemakers on the northwest face of the French Alps. I am sure @wachuko uses that grotty Italian water with the star on the bottle, but he's an unrefined savage.
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I like the way you've mixed satire with science there.:grin:

There are people who will buy expensive mineral water to use in their machines but often the cheapest supermarket-brand water works well and you can buy it in 5 litre bottles. But it would still be a storage ball-ache and resource wasteful. ;)
 
pontiac428 said:
Oh no, you don't want to do that. Distilled water has an awful flavor. Water gets its taste from the minerals in it. Also, when brewing coffee, there is an ion exchange between the organic ground bean and the cations in the water that can be manipulated by adding a dash of table salt, as many Europeans do. I import my coffee water from an artisanal spring owned by a family of traditional soft cheesemakers on the northwest face of the French Alps. I am sure @wachuko uses that grotty Italian water with the star on the bottle, but he's an unrefined savage.
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Nah, I used good old tap water. I do have a sediment filter, a carbon filter, another sediment filter after that, and then a water softener…. All this, for the whole house…

But yes, you definitely do not want to use distilled water…yikes!
 
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Man, you guys are all fancy and junk with your morning brew.

I leave for work at 4:30am (Why do we have to make Heaters at 5:00 in the morning!!??!!??) and don’t have the time or inclination for much more than shoving a spoonful of instant in my mouth and washing it down with cold dishwater.

The coffee from the cafeteria seems like ambrosia after that.
 
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SouthernChap said:
We come from different cultural backgrounds mate, so please don't be offended and honestly I'm not telling you what you should or shouldn't say (as I keep on saying, I'm not the boss of anybody else ;) ) but given how many women are killed by men each year, that post makes me pretty uncomfortable.

Hope you won't mind me letting you know how I (again obviously not trying to tell you what kind of jokes you should be okay with) personally feel about those kind of jokes and this is the only time I'll bring this subject up; just wanted to say my piece. :)
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Deleted it as I respect you as a friend.
 
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