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Water Options in USA
I'm soon to buy an LI, and I'm just working out my options for water for it. I see that a nice simple solution is to use Volvic, but as far as I can tell it's not as readily available here in Philadelphia.
Is there a bottled water suitable for espresso/coffee (I like filter too!) sold (at a reasonable price) in the US? I see that Jim Schulman also mentions Crystal Geyser, and in a HB forum he says that most US bottled waters have suitable levels of hardness ("e.g. Dasani").
On the other hand, the tap water here might be adaptable. We have "moderately hard" water according to the local council, with 100-150ppm of carbonates. I also have a Soma water filter, but I don't know if this will reduce all that much of the hardness. I haven't noticed too much limescale on the usual suspects (kettle etc) yet. Perhaps Reiss's water filters are the best plan?
Also, the pH level is 7.4, which seems reasonable.
What do most of you guys do / plan to do?
Is there a bottled water suitable for espresso/coffee (I like filter too!) sold (at a reasonable price) in the US? I see that Jim Schulman also mentions Crystal Geyser, and in a HB forum he says that most US bottled waters have suitable levels of hardness ("e.g. Dasani").
On the other hand, the tap water here might be adaptable. We have "moderately hard" water according to the local council, with 100-150ppm of carbonates. I also have a Soma water filter, but I don't know if this will reduce all that much of the hardness. I haven't noticed too much limescale on the usual suspects (kettle etc) yet. Perhaps Reiss's water filters are the best plan?
Also, the pH level is 7.4, which seems reasonable.
What do most of you guys do / plan to do?
Comments
for peace of mind we sell a water hardness test kit, but i am sure you can procure an equivalent product locally - a good US manufacturer is Hach - I'm pretty sure they're a US outfit
r.
Tap is obviously more economical, but until I plumb my machine in I enjoy the consistency Volvic provides.
I added this to reassure myself. http://www.tdsmeter.com/products/com100.html
please note that TDS is a different measurement from what our total temporary hardness kit measures
our kit measures the total of the calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate and any other precipitating salts that are present - i.e. anything that will cause scale to form
calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate are but two of a vast array of things that will make up the TDS value
TDS is the total weight of all solids remaining if all the water is boiled off, generally measured at 180 degrees celcius; it this case the meter takes an estimate by measuring the conductivity of the water and using the differential in conductivity from a base line saline solution i believe (this is what you calibrate a TDS meter with from memory) to derive the TDS value
so you shouldnt attribute the difference between the two results to inaccuracy; they should be different
TDS is not the relevant measure for determining scale as you could have a high TDS value that contains a very small amount of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate
kind regards
reiss.
Thanks, but that was why I got that meter. I wanted more information. It is the same reason I own a good volt meter, I just wanted to know.
What you sell works well for the scale buildup, but I just wanted to know how much other stuff was present, not necessarily what it was since I do not expect to own or need a lab.
You are correct about the buildup of crude on the showers, faucets and tea kettles.
Have a great day!
Stephen
what is really interesting to know about your water is what the elements making up that TDS value are as these may influence the taste of the water, for better or for worse
for example, not that it is in the TDS figure, but ANY chlorine is bad for espresso - you want a water with as little as possible or it will taint your espresso
for example, while Volvic is my go to bottled water for espresso machines i don't like the taste of it to drink and in an ideal would i would like to use a water for espresso that sat within the recommended water parameters/values for espresso AND also tasted pleasant to drink - and thats when you find yourself in supermarket isles reading the water label on every bottle before you make a decision, looking a bit of a nutter in the process
I use an inline TDS meter in my water system, but it is placed after the RO system has done its stuff... So the RO system TDS meter should (if it is working properly) give a reading of 0ppm, it is at this point that I remineralise the 0ppm water with a quantity of calcium and magnesium and the water now has ONLY temporary hardness suspended in it, and not only that, but it is desirable to have some of this hardness... see the SCAA water guide sheet:- http://www.scaa.org/PDF/resources/water-standards.pdf
A reading taken from my inline TDS, or from the Hach (temporary hardness) test kit, or the "Advantage" kit on this website, will now be the same.
If the same test is carried out on un-filtered water (i.e. not processed by the RO kit), the TDS meter and the Hach test kit will almost certainly give different results and the TDS meter will be wrong (for our purposes), as you say it is measuring TOTAL dissolved solids and not just the TEMPORARY dissolved solids.
Oh so true, and if I had a really high TDS it would trigger a response in me to find out what it was!
Being a chemist and figuring out what really is in the water is a tricky thing. It appears that Stephen Jenner has followed that rabbit down the hole and knows more about water than I do for sure. Not sure I want to know that much. I have friends who have some very elaborate water systems, including the desalinization systems when they are living on their boat.
I also use a simple Hot Tub water test strip kit in conjunction with the Kit you sell. I like your the best
Is that 180ºC a typo?
I found this:
-------------------
http://www.tdsmeter.com/faqs/
How can I get the best possible readings?
[...]
Temperature:
25 degrees Celsius is the ideal temperature for conductivity readings, even if the meter has ATC.
-------------------
I might get a TDS sometime later this year, not to check water but to get acquainted with TDS in espresso, another opportunity to play and learn and be geekily busy:
http://gizmodo.com/5642561/seeking-mojo-chasing-the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-through-science
no, 180C is not a typo - you will see it referenced on most the bottles - they also refer to it as the 'dry residue' value sometimes i believe
i expect they go well above 100C to drive out any moisture trapped within the solids, much like coffee roasting!
using a TDS meter which estimates the TDS (total dissolved solids) value by calculating the shift in conductivity from a saturated saline solution of known conductivity is simply a lot more practical for most of us than running 'boil off' experiments to accurately determine the dry residue value
there is also another value, TSS (total suspended solids) but in any potable water you would expect this value to be so low as to be not worth talking about, far less measure
kind regards
reiss
I have never seen Volvic in The Netherlands and when I was in Germany a few weeks back I came across a bottle in a gas station's small supermarket so I bought it and used it to make espresso in the little Pavoni.