Water

[ChrisD]

Hello espressoheads

One-time-poster, long-time-lurker and now returned (a little older, no wiser, even more confused) with a renewed lust for decent coffee.

Five years ago I was chasing the espresso dream (with hopes shaped like a La Spaziale S1) but couldn't afford to do it justice. Now, within reason, I can, but I've picked up a few questions along the way. Time has been kind to my bank balance if not my waistband, so my S1 ambitions are finally feasible; I've already got a Vario grinder next to the kettle (where it currently demeans itself churning through beans for a Clever Coffee dripper).

Here's my big question, and it's about water - you know, the boring stuff that eventually becomes something interesting by virtue of whizzing through your machine. Am currently living in London where "hard" doesn't do the stuff justice: 276 ppm is the order of the day, tap-wise. I'm renting, and so drilling holes for under-sink softening/filtering systems isn't really do-able. Hence I'm looking at the S1 Mini, with its handy tank.

Thing is, what are UK people with hard water putting into their tanked machines? Buying bottles of softer water from the supermarket would get expensive, fast, and unlike what some North American coffee addicts have suggested, there's no bulk R/O water option in the supermarkets. Do people have 19l water bottles a-la office coolers delivered, and if so from whom? I've googled around and it seems there's plenty of variation as to the hardness of the water each company supplies, depending on where it comes from.

Any suggestions?

Chris

P.S. Oh, and I'm GUTTED to have missed EricC's GS/3 sale, I would've been all over that like, um, something sticky. Why oh why must new GS/3's be so expensive and second-hand ones so rare?!

[P.B]

I'm currently staying with family while building work goes on so I'm using Tesco Ashbeck at 80mg/l hardess (I always check before buying just in case "Ashbeck" water moves source though...) Just gone up in price by 5p to £1 per 5l bottle. As you won't have to do a HX flush with a mini S1 you shouldn't get through too much water and it's significantly cheaper than Volvic which is usually recommended.

Paul

[ChrisD]

Thanks Paul, that's interesting about the Ashbeck water. Someone else said they used Tesco water, but I assumed it would be more cost effective to buy 19l bulk bottles like they have in offices. At £1 for 5l, though, Tesco is cheaper Plus it'd be easier to store, which means greater marital harmony.

Chris

[gabriel]

I'm in Oxford, with water of comparable hardness to London's (I don't know the actual measurements though). My machine is a Gaggia Classic and I just put my tap water through a Brita filter which seems to get the worst of the hardness out of it. I was advised some years ago (by the now defunct Gaggia UK operation) that using bottled water was particularly bad for the machine. I can't recall the explanation, but it seemed convincing at the time.

Anyway, using the Brita seems to be a reasonable approach - I descale the machine every 3 or 4 months and it's never too horribly scaled.

[ChrisD]

Thanks Gabriel, appreciate the advice. I wonder what it is about bottled water that Gaggia didn't like; perhaps the fact that the hardness of mineral water can actually be significantly higher than what comes out of some peoples' taps?

A quarterly descale sounds like a lot of effort (maybe I'm just lazy!) when I know other S1 users are doing it yearly and finding little scale (as long as they use 80ppm water or softer). I guess another option might be to fit some sort of filter system in the cupboard under the sink, and use it to fill the Mini's tank there (since I can't drill through the work-surface).

Chris

[phil2spill]

My machine is a Gaggia Classic and I just put my tap water through a Brita filter which seems to get the worst of the hardness out of it.

I seem to remember reading in the water FAQ that it's not recommended to use Brita water with aluminium because its acidity causes corrosion. I've seen a moka pot corroded from Brita water, so it's probably not a hollow warning!