I finally stopped using tap water for pourover after a barista in Portland called me out

I was at this shop called Never Coffee in Portland last summer and asked the barista why my V60 at home always tasted flat compared to theirs. He asked what water I used and I said tap from the fridge filter. He just laughed and said that's your problem, the minerals are all wrong. Then he showed me their water recipe with Epsom salt and baking soda mixed into distilled water. Now I'm torn between sticking with that or just buying a $50 filtration pitcher. Has anyone else had their whole brew method flipped by something a random barista said?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_davis312d ago

lol welcome to the rabbit hole of water chemistry where you realize half your coffee problems were just your tap being a jerk. I started using distilled with a pinch of baking soda after a similar barista lecture and honestly it's one of those things where you can't un-taste the difference once you know. Then you get obsessed with PPM levels and before you know it you're that person carrying a jug of custom water to friends' houses.

finleyl392d ago

Right? I'm now that weirdo who brings my own water filter camping.

xena_bailey182d ago

My tap water has a crazy high TDS like 280 ppm where I live and I fought with flat coffee for two years before some guy at a shop in Austin explained it to me. I tried the Epsom salt and baking soda thing for a month and it was good but honestly I just got tired of mixing batches all the time. Now I use a ZeroWater pitcher and add back a little Third Wave Water packet to the filtered water and it's way easier than measuring out salts myself. The difference was insane though like my first cup after switching took me straight back to that shop in Portland where I got called out.