Coffee Water Filters & Brewing Water

Water makes up around 98% of a cup of coffee, which makes it the single most important variable most home brewers never think about. The mineral content of your water directly affects extraction: too soft and the water cannot pull flavour compounds from the coffee efficiently, producing flat, underextracted cups; too hard and it over-extracts, bringing out bitterness and masking the nuance in the coffee. The SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) recommends a total dissolved solids (TDS) range of 75–250 mg/l, with a target around 150 mg/l, as the ideal window for coffee extraction. Most tap water in the UK falls outside this range in one direction or the other, depending on where you live.

The two approaches to dialling in your water are filtration and mineral addition. Peak Water's adjustable filter jug works by blending filtered water with selectively retained minerals, letting you dial in the mineral content to match your brew method and local water supply. Aquacode takes a different approach: sachets of concentrated minerals added to still bottled water or filtered water, giving you a consistent, precisely specified brewing water without the need for a jug or plumbing. Both are used by home brewers and professionals and represent straightforward, practical solutions to a variable that has a noticeable impact on cup quality.

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