As you perfect your skills at using a vacuum coffee maker its important not to lose site of the most important ingredient in a great cup of brewed coffee.
This ingredient is water.
While this might not be surprising to some, it's often overlooked, especially when you consider water makes up 98 percent of a cup of vacuum brewed coffee.
The coffee lover in us worries about what roast we are using, whether these beans are from Costa Rica or Tanzania, but when it comes to our water we pour it straight out of the kitchen faucet.
Hard water and soft water are the culprits here.
Whether it's the alkaline found in hard water, or phosphates found in soft water, both will ruin the results your seeking and why you're using a vacuum coffee maker in the first place.
The alkaline you find in hard tap water actually breaks down and dissolves the acid found in your coffee beans.
What this does is actually kills the taste of your coffee, something I bet you don't want.
Soft water presents a different problem but still just as bad for your vacuum coffee.
Phosphates actually react with the acids and oils to give a very gross soapy flavor..
..
not good! Luckily if you have either of these situations there is a solution, your coffee doesn't have to taste like lake water.
Now if your water really is that bad, you probably already have one, but if not get yourself a water filter.
Water filters come in two basic versions, the screw on type that attach to your faucet, and the pitchers with the built in filter.
While either filtration type works good, my preference leans toward the filtration pitchers because you can put them in the refrigerator to keep the water cold.
Using cold water is actually key when using a vacuum coffee maker.
It is believed by many that the starting temperature of your water is more important than you may think.
Dissolved oxygen is the reason for this.
Cold water contains more dissolved oxygen than warm water.
It's for this reason that oxygen-loving trout thrive in cold mountain rivers.
Many aficionados claim that using cold water to start the brewing gives the coffee a lot more life.
When I use my vacuum coffee maker, like you, I'm trying to get the best extraction possible from my beans.
But remember the 98/2 rule, 98 percent water and 2 percent coffee, the water is too important to ignore.
This ingredient is water.
While this might not be surprising to some, it's often overlooked, especially when you consider water makes up 98 percent of a cup of vacuum brewed coffee.
The coffee lover in us worries about what roast we are using, whether these beans are from Costa Rica or Tanzania, but when it comes to our water we pour it straight out of the kitchen faucet.
Hard water and soft water are the culprits here.
Whether it's the alkaline found in hard water, or phosphates found in soft water, both will ruin the results your seeking and why you're using a vacuum coffee maker in the first place.
The alkaline you find in hard tap water actually breaks down and dissolves the acid found in your coffee beans.
What this does is actually kills the taste of your coffee, something I bet you don't want.
Soft water presents a different problem but still just as bad for your vacuum coffee.
Phosphates actually react with the acids and oils to give a very gross soapy flavor..
..
not good! Luckily if you have either of these situations there is a solution, your coffee doesn't have to taste like lake water.
Now if your water really is that bad, you probably already have one, but if not get yourself a water filter.
Water filters come in two basic versions, the screw on type that attach to your faucet, and the pitchers with the built in filter.
While either filtration type works good, my preference leans toward the filtration pitchers because you can put them in the refrigerator to keep the water cold.
Using cold water is actually key when using a vacuum coffee maker.
It is believed by many that the starting temperature of your water is more important than you may think.
Dissolved oxygen is the reason for this.
Cold water contains more dissolved oxygen than warm water.
It's for this reason that oxygen-loving trout thrive in cold mountain rivers.
Many aficionados claim that using cold water to start the brewing gives the coffee a lot more life.
When I use my vacuum coffee maker, like you, I'm trying to get the best extraction possible from my beans.
But remember the 98/2 rule, 98 percent water and 2 percent coffee, the water is too important to ignore.
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