To paraphrase Mikhail Weller, there is a trick in every case. Coffee is brewed in water and coffee is washed down with water. And what, in fact, is this water and what should it be (and why, finally, a glass of water is served with coffee)?
If straight to the point, then coffee is best brewed on the most "pure", one might say - poor in minerals water. The fact is that the minerals will affect the taste of the coffee in the cup, so the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) recommends brewing coffee in such water, the content of trace elements in which will not affect the taste.
But further it is interesting. Coffee, like any stimulant, dehydrates. This is known to everyone who went over the day with alcohol - the legendary morning "dry" is nothing more than dehydration. Therefore, taking this opportunity, it is recommended to drink alcohol with water too (in many Western films there is a scene when the hero enters a bar and orders whiskey and a glass of water, this is just to avoid dehydration, we do not have such a practice yet).
Back to coffee. So, you drain the cup, and soon your body will become sickly dehydrated. Some trace elements will go away with the water. And here is the trick - in order to replenish them, it is best to drink a glass of water rich in minerals and all trace elements. But in no case should you brew coffee in such water! Especially when it comes to expensive and / or rare sorts of coffee, since this set of trace elements will knock the flavor profile of your coffee into a completely unknown direction. The coffee should be sweet and tart, reminiscent of prune tincture - it will become salty and sour. In coffee jargon, such overly sour coffee is sometimes called, sorry, cold-pressed old Kyrgyz urine. Or, say, coffee is conceived as a pronounced chocolate, reminiscent of cocoa, and on rich mineral water there will be an almost elusive, barely noticeable shade of the worst, burnt chocolate made from brandy in half with milk buttermilk.
Therefore, the rule is as follows: brew coffee in the purest water possible, and drink coffee with the most mineral-rich water.
How do you know what kind of water is? Very simple - all information is indicated on the label and counter-label, important indicators for brewing coffee:
- the total amount of dissolved particles (total mineralization, TDS), permissible up to 120 mg / l;
- calcium hardness, permissible up to 70 mg / l, better - less (sometimes it occurs and 20 mg / l);
- total alkalinity, permissible 40 mg / l;
- pH: 7;
- sodium: 10 mg / l.
An important addition about calcium hardness: it indicates the content of both calcium and magnesium. The latter should not be too much in the water in which you brew coffee, but you should not try to minimize it, because the magnesium in the water helps to "pull" valuable malic acid from the coffee. For example, coffee from Kenya is rich in citrus acid (if without details - there is such soil, so coffee from Kenya, if brewed correctly, will be very citrusy, like grapefruit juice). But, for example, washed coffee from Ethiopia is dominated by lime notes in taste, this is due to malic acid. To capture the nuances of taste, you need to brew coffee with the right water.
